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BX    8956     .H6 

Hopkins,    Samuel    Miles,     1813- 

1901. 
Manual    of   church   polity 


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MANUAL 


CHUECH   POLITY, 


S.    M.    HOPKINS, 

PEOFESSOR  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTOKT  AND  CHURCH  POLITY, 
ATTBURX  THEOLOGICAL  SEMIXART, 


AUBURN,  N.  Y. : 

WM.   J.   MOSES'   PL^LISHING  HOUSE. 

1878. 


"And,  therefore,  it  is  good  we  return  unto  the  ancient  bonds  of  unity  in  the 
Church  of  God,  which  was  one  faith,  one  baptism,  and  not  one  hierarchy,  one 
discipline ;  and  that  we  observe  the  lea.iiue  of  Christians,  as  it  is  penned  by  our 
Savior,  which  is,  in  substance  of  doctrine,  this :  He  that  is  not  with  us,  is  against 
us  ;  but  in  thin;?s  indifferent,  and  only  of  circumstance,  this :  He  that  is  not 
against  us,  is  with  us.  In  these  things,  so  as  the  general  rules  be  observed,  that 
Christ's  flock  be  fed,  that  there  be  a  succession  in  bishops  and  ministers,  which 
are  the  prophets  of  the  New  Testament,  that  those  that  preach  the  Gospel,  live 
of  the  Gospel,  that  all  things  tend  to  edification,  that  all  things  be  done  in  order 
and  decency,  and  the  like  ;  the  rest  is  left  to  the  holy  wisdom  and  spiritual  dis- 
cretion of  the  master  builders  and  inferior  builders  in  Christ's  Church,  as  it  is 
excellently  alluded  by  that  Father  who  noted  that  Christ's  garment  was  without 
seam,  and  yet  the  church's  garment  was  of  diverse  colors ;  and,  thereupon,  setteth 
down  for  a  rule,  in  veste  varietas  sit,  scissura  non  sit.'" 

Lord  Bacon,  on  the  Pacification  of  the  Church. 


ADYEETISEMEITT. 


The  followias;  notes  contain  tlie  substance  of  the 
course  of  instruction  on  Churcli  Polity  given  to  the  stu- 
dents in  Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  and  are  now 
published  at  their  repeated  request,  and,  primarily,  for 
their  convenience. 

They  make  no  pretence,  in  their  present  compendious 
form,  to  be  a  complete  or  exhaustive  discussion  of  the 
subject;  yet,  it  is  believed,  they  take  up  every  point  of 
importance  to  a  student  for  the  Presbyterian  ministry. 
They  may,  possibly,  be  found  of  use  to  those  who  have 
already  completed  their  preparation,  and  entered  upon 
their  work,  as,  for  example,  in  the  examination  of  can- 
didates for  licensure  or  ordination.  In  some  directions, 
they  necessarily  take  the  form  of  controversy  ;  but  their 
object  is  irenical  and  not  polemic.  The  writer  does  not 
expect  that  all,  even  of  his  own  immediate  brethren, 
will  concur  in  all  his  views.  He  has,  at  least,  desired  to 
say  nothing  at  variance  with  the  spirit  of  Christian 
charity. 

So  far  as  he  is  aware,  no  manual  suitable  to  the  pur- 
poses above  mentioned  is  in  existence.  The  admirable 
treatise  of  Dr.  Jacob  — :  admirable  for  its  fullness,  learn- 
ing and  catholicity  of  spirit  —  was  designed  as  "  a  study 
for  the  present  crisis  in  the  Church  of  England."  It,  of 
course,  includes  no  discussion  of  the  polity  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  leaves  aside  many  topics  which  are 
necessary  to  be  included  in  a  study  by  candidates  for  the 
Presbyterian  ministry. 

Auburn  THEOLoaiCAL  Seminary,  Feb.,  1878. 


TABLE   OF   OOE'TEE'TS. 


SECTION.  PAGE. 

I.  ;N"ature  and  Value  of  the  Study, 9 

II.  Meaning  of  "Church"  in  the  Xew  Testament,         -         -  11 

III.  Reasons  for  the  being  of  a  Church,         ....  13 

IV.  The  Universal  Church  —  Its  Definition  and  Marks,     -        -  16 
V.  Substance  of  the  "  Preliminary  Principles,"         -         -         -  20 

VI.  Relation  between  Church  and  State,         -         -         -         -  22 

VII.  Origin  of  Denominational  Churches,          -         -         -         -  25 

VIII.  Definition  of  a  Particular  Church,          .         .         .         .  28 

IX.  Organization  and  Ministry  of  the  First  Particular  Churches,  31 

X.  The  Unofiicial  Ministry  of  Gifts, 32 

XI.  The  Official  Ministry  of  Gifts, 34 

XII.  Attempts  to  Perpetuate  the  Ministry  of  Gifts,         -         -  37 

XIII.  Historical  Evidence  for  the  Supposed  Perpetuation  of  the 

Ministry  of  Gifts, 41 

XIV.  The  False  and  the  True  Doctrine  of  the  Apostolic  Succession,  44 
XV.  The  Ministry  of  Orders  — First  Class  — Elders,         -        -  47 

XVI.  Only  two  Orders  in  the  Ministry,           -         -         -         -  51 
XVII.  First  Stage  in  the  Ministry  of  Orders  —  Origin  of  the 

Pastorate, 53 

XVIII.  Second  Stage  in  the  Ministry  of  Orders — Origin  of  the 

Episcopate, 54 

XiX.  Ministry  of  Orders  —  Second  Class  —  Deacons,       -        -  56 


6  CONTENTS. 

SECTION.  PAGE, 

XX.  Office  of  Ruling  Elder  —  Its  Warrant,        -        .        -  59 

XXI.  Historical  Justification  of  Episcopacy,        -        -        -  62 

XXII.  Sphere  of  Woman  in  the  Apostolic  Church,  -        -  63 

XXIII.  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,        ...  67 

XXIY.  Advantages  of  Presbyterianism  over  Independency,     -  69 

XXV.  Nature  and  Method  of  Ordination,       -        -         -         -  70 

XXVI.  The  Christian  Ministry  not  a  Priesthood,         -        -        -  72 

XXVII.  Doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  to  Sacraments,  74 

XXVIII.  Doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  to  Infant  Church 

Membership, 77 

XXX.  Doctrine  of  the  Form  of  Government  in  regard  to  the 

Authority  of  the  Church, 79 

XXXI.  Doctrine  of  the  Directory  in  regard  to  Public  Prayer,     -  81 

XXXII.  Advantages  and  Disadvantages  of  Liturgical  Prayer,      -  83 

XXXIII.  History  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,     -        -        -  85 

XXXIV.  Deduction  of  Presbyterian  Ordinations  in  America,         -  89 
XXXV.  Organization  of  the  Church  of  Rome,          .        -        -  93 

XXXVI.  Process  of  Organizing  a  Particular  Church,  -        -  96 


APPENDIX. 


PAGE. 

A.  The  Anglican  Succession  —  Consecration  of  Arch -bishop  Parker,  101 

B.  The  Case  of  Timothy's  Ordination, 104 

C.  Rise  of  Non-conformity  in  England, lO'^ 

D.  The  Orders  of  T\^andsworth, HI 

E.  Rise  and  Fall  of  Presbytery  in  England,         .         -         -         -  116 

F.  The  Westminster  Assembly, 121 

G.  Independency, 125 

H.   Presbyterianism  in  Ireland, ISO 

J,    History  of  Presbytery  in  America, 132 

K.   Episc6pacy  in  the  American  Colonies,          -         -         -         -  135 

L.    Objections  to  the  Episcopal  Liturgy,     -----  139 

M.  The  Schism  and  Re-union  of  ISSY-TO,         .         .         -         -  145 

N.   Plan  of  Union  of  1801, 147 

0.    Accommodation  Plan  of  1808, 150 

P.    English  Plan  of  Union  of  1690, 152 

Q.   Directory  for  Worship  on  the  Form  of  Invitation  to  the  Lord's 

Supper,         ---------  153 

R.   On  the  Demission  of  the  Ministry, 162 

S.    The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, IQl 

T.    The  Scottish  Kirk, 169 

U.  Church  Parliamentary  Law, lYS 


]S"OTES   OiSr   CHURCH    POLITT. 


SEC.  I.  —  NATURE  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  STUDY. 

Churcla  polity  has  for* its  object  the  study  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Christian  Church,  as  laid  down  in  the  New 
Testament,  w4th  those  modifications  or  developments  to 
which  it  has  since  been  subject,  together  with  a  defense 
of  some  particular  system  of  church  government,  as 
against  all  others.  It  relates  to  the  external  form  and 
order  of  the  church,  and  not  to  her  doctrine  or  life.  It 
raa}^  therefore,  be  admitted  to  be  essentially  a  sectarian 
study,  and  finds  its  apology  in  the  divided  condition  of 
the  Christian  Church.  If  all  Christians,  or  even  all 
Protestant  Christians,  constituted  one  communion,  there 
would  be  little  or  no  occasion  for  this  study.  At  pres- 
ent, it  serves  to  supply  a  magazine  of  arms  to  each  par- 
ticular sect,  by  which  it  may  be  in  a  condition  to  defend 
itself,  and  assail  all  other  denominations. 

This  study,  therefore,  belongs,  incidentally,  to  the  pres- 
ent imperfect  and  distracted  state  of  the  church  ;  and,  in 
her  highest  ideal  condition,  may  be  expected  to  become 
needless  and  obsolete.  While  this  condition  lasts,  how- 
ever, church  polity  must  be  regarded  as  an  indispensable 
part  of  the  preparation  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

Leaving  other  churches  to  do  in  this  department  what 
their  views  of  trutli  and  duty  dictate,  it  devolves  on  us 


10  NATURE  XSl) 

to  justify,  from  Scripture  and  liistory,  that  form  of  churcli 
government  and  order  we,  ourselves,  adopt. 

The  study  in  our  hands  is  a  purefy  defensive  method  ; 
the  Pjesbyterian  Church  makes  no  claim  to  any  exclu- 
sive divine  right;  we  hold  that  only  the  general  princi- 
ples of  church  polity  are  laid  down  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  that,  consistently  with  these,  each  church  may  adopt 
its  own  order,  and  ordain  rites  and  ceremonies  according 
to  the  demands  of  different  times  and  places.  We  freely 
admit  that  there  are  true  Churches  of  Christ  organized 
differently  from  our  own,  w^ith  a  different  constitution 
and  forms  of  worship.  We  refuse,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  to 
sunder  the  bonds  of  unity  that  should  unite  all  Chris- 
tians, for  any  such  immaterial  differences  ;  but  we  are 
met  by  others,  who  insist  on  an  exclusive  divine  right 
for  themselves.  We  are  obliged,  therefore,  out  of  self- 
respect  and  fidelity  to  Scriptural  and  historical  truth,  to 
stand  in  defense  of  our  church  order,  to  show  its  original 
warrant,  its  reasonableness  and  expediency,  and,  by  con- 
sequence, to  disprove  the  exclusive  claims  set  up  by 
others. 

This  argument,  therefore,  is  a  matter  of  necessity  with 
us,  and  not  of  choice ;  we  would  gladly  welcome  the  day 
when  all  polemical  activity  in  this  line  shall  cease,  and 
give  way  to  mutual  toleration  respecting  outward  order 
and  things  indifferent  between  the  various  parts  of  the 
Christian  body.  "  Polemical  theology,"  an  odious  sole- 
cism, though  at  present  an  unhappy  necessity,  is  pecu- 
liarly odious  when  it  exhibits  Christians  arrayed  in  hos- 
tile camps,  and  exhausting  their  energies  in  mutual 
struggles,  in  regard  to  bishops,  sacraments  and  prayers. 
We  may  lay  down,  then,  tlie  following  definition  :  that 
"  church  polity,  as  a  study,  includes  a  view  of  the  organ- 


VALUE    OF   THE    STUDY.  11 

ization,  worsLip  and  discipline  proper  to  the  Charcli  of 
Christ,  with  the  objections  to  other  systems,  and  a  justi- 
tication  of  our  own." 

SEC.  II.  —  MEAXIXG  OF  THE  WORD    CHURCH  IX  THE   XEW 
TESTAMENT. 

The  English  word  Church  is  probably  derived  from 
the  Greek  xuptod  dixuq.  Its  Greek  equivalent  is  sy-xAr^ffta^ 
from  £zza/££v,  to  call  out,  or  summon  together ;  the  sy.ylrjtjta 
is  the  aggregate  of  those  who  are  called  and  meet 
together ;  in  classic  usage,  it  designated  the  public  assem- 
bly of  the  people  of  Athens,  in  the  Prytaneum,  or  town 
hall.  (Grote  :  IV,  138.)  In  the  Gospels,  the  w^ord  sy./.Ar^(r>a 
occurs  in  only  two  places,  viz.  :  Matt.  :  xvi,  18;  ^^  thou 
art  Peter,  and  on  this  rock  I  icill  huild  iJ.oo  ttj'^  BAxXr^awy^'' 
where  the  church  universal  is  evidently  intended  ;  and 
Matt.  :  XVIII,  17  :  ^'  If  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  them^  tell  it 
{rrj  ey.ylr^6ia)  to  tiic  cliurch  ;  "  referring  to  a  particular  con- 
gregation. In  the  Acts  and  Epistles,  zxylr^aia  occurs 
often,  and  in  four  different  senses,  viz.  : 

1.  Of  a  particular  or  local  Christian  society  ;  Col.  :  iv, 
15  ;  '•  Nyrai^has  and  the  church,''  &c.  2.  Of  the  whole 
body  of  Christians  in  a  place;  Col.:  iv,  16;  '' The  church 
of  the  Laodiceans.''  3.  Of  the  w^hole  visible  church  ;  1 
Cor.  :  XII,  28  ;  "  God  hath  set  some  in  the  church,''  &c.  ; 
certainly,  not  in  the  spiritual  church,  nor  in  an}'  one 
local  society.  -1.  The  whole  spiritual  or  true  church  of 
sanctified  men  ;  Col.  :  I,  18;  ''He  is  the  head  of  the  ivhole 
hody^  the  church." 

Ecclesia  is  never  used  in  the  New  Testament  for 
house  of  worship.  (See  1  Cor.  :  xiv,  34 ;  Acts :  xix, 
37.)  The  usual  term  for  the  place  of  Christian  worship, 
in  the  T^ew  Testament,  is  oty.n::  [  Acts:  it,  46;    "  77/ey 


12  MEANING    OF   THE    WORD    CHURCH 

hrohe  their  bread  xdr  dUoix;^^  —  i.  e.,  in  private  houses. 
But  otxo<;  Las  a  more  specific  meaning  than  this.  It 
does  not  so  much  signify  a  houae^  for  which  oixia  is  the 
proper  term,  as  an  apartment  or  hall  appropriated  to 
some  special  purpose,  usually  a  religious  purpose.  The 
ouoT,  in  apostolic  usage,  was  the  room  in  a  private  house — 
the  private  chapel  or  room  of  prayer,  in  which  Christians 
were  accustomed  to  meet  for  worship.  It  was  not  uncom- 
mon, in  Oriental  houses  of  the  better  class,  to  have  a 
"  large  upper  room,"  not  occupied  by  the  family,  but 
reserved  for  social  or  religious  occasions  ;  a  certain  num- 
ber of  these  uuuuq^  in  Jerusalem,  were  used  as  places  for 
Christian  meetings.  Thus,  when  it  is  said,  in  Acts  :  v, 
42,  that  the  apostles  preached  Christ  daily  in  every  house 
(oixov),  the  meaning  is,  not  that  they  went  along  from 
house  to  house  making  family  visits,  but  that  they  met 
regularly  with  the  disciples  in  the  several  otxou^^  or  "  wor- 
ship rooms,"  used  for  that  purpose.  So,  when  it  is  said 
that  Paul  "  entered  every  house"  (oczov),  &c.,  the  reference 
is,  not  to  private  houses  promiscuously,  but  to  those  pri- 
vate chapels  in  which  Christians  could  be  found  assem- 
bled for  worship  ;  oikos,  accordingly,  continued  for  a  long 
time  to  be  the  name  by  which  the  Christian  place  of 
worship  was  designated.  In  classic  usage,  it  also  signi- 
fied the  house  of  a  god,  a  temple.  In  Palestine,  it  was 
also  called  the  synagogue.  Thus,  the  Apostle  James 
reproves  the  Jewish  Christians  for  discriminating  improp- 
erly among  those  who  came  into  their  "synagogue."* 
Ecclesia  is  never  used  for  national  churches,  as  Church 
of  England  ;     nor  for  denominational  churches,  as  Epis- 

*  In  the  Attic  testamentary  law,  oikos  was  also  distinguished  from  oikia  ;  the 
former  meaning  all  the  propertj^  left  at  a  person's  death ;  the  latter,  the  dwelling 
house  only.    {Vide  Llddell  and  Scott,  sub  voce) 


IX    THE    XEW    TESTAMENT.  18 

copalian,  Presbyterian,  &c.  As  applied  to  a  body  of 
visible  believers,  it  ordinarily  includes  all  the  Chris- 
tians in  a  place,  Avhether  it  were  large  or  small.  All  the 
disciples  in  Antioch  constituted  "  the  church  "  in  Anti- 
och  ;  so  of  Ephesus,  Jerusalem,  &c.  This,  in  an  ideally 
perfect  condition  of  Christianity,  approaching  that  of  the 
Apostolic  Age,  would  be  the  proper  and  Scriptural  use 
of  the  term  now  ;  all  the  Christians  in  New  York,  e.  g., 
would  constitute  "  the  church  in  New  York,"  and  would 
be  distinguished  only  by  non-essential  criteria,  implying 
no  breach  of  the  unity  of  the  body. 

SEC.  HI.  —  REASONS  FOR  THE  BEING  OF  A  CHURCH. 

The  church  under  the  New  Testament  is  the  Church 
of  Christ ;  He  said,  I  will  build  MY  church.  The  Jewish 
Church  was  national ;  all  Jews  were  members  of  it  by 
the  fact  of  birth,  irrespective  of  character ;  the  Christian 
Church  is  universal,  and  at  the  same  time  eclectic ;  all 
those  of  every  nation  who  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  are  members  of  it,  and  none  others ;  it  is,  there- 
fore, a  select  society,  formed  out  of  the  world,  according 
to  John  XVII,  on  the  principle  of  a  common  faith  and 
mutual  sympathies.  Such  a  society  must  become  visible 
and  take  on  outward  form  and  organization,  general  or 
particular,  for  reasons  found  in  nature  of  Christianity 
itself,  viz. : 

I.  All  Christians  have  a  sacred  literature  in  common  ; 
the  New  Testament  contains  their  law,  faith,  example, 
mutual  relations,  &c.  ;  any  number  of  men  having  such 
reasons  for  union  are  necessarily  led  to  express  it,  more 
or  less  positively,  by  outward  organization.  Men  may 
hold  opinions  in  common  on  philosophy,  history,  morals, 
or  trade,  without  fieeling  impelled  to  enter  into  any  out 


14  REASONS    FOR   THE 

ward  relations  with  each  other;  but  those  who  recognize 
the  same  law,  look  to  the  same  example,  acknowledge 
the  same  teacher,  call  themselves  by  the  same  name,  and 
assume  the  same  obligations,  are  compelled,  by  the  neces- 
sities of  the  case,  to  recognize  each  other,  in  a  larger  or 
more  restricted  sense,  as  members  of  the  same  society. 

IL  Christianity  contemplates,  not  merely  individual 
worship,  but  worship  in  common.  All  religions  are 
more  or  less  social ;  Christianity  is  eminently  social.  Its 
most  elementary  utterance  is  '^  our  Father."  All  the 
parts  of  its  worship,  such  as  reading,  prayer,  praise  and 
preaching  are  social  acts.  In  order  to  such  worship, 
there  must  be  Christian  societies  which  will  provide  for 
times,  places,  conveniences,  &c.  The  only  agency  that 
can  do  this  is  the  church. 

III.  Christianity  has  certain  positive  institutions  which 
imply  and  require  society.  Baptism  is  the  ordinance  by 
which  those  previously  strangers  are  to  be  recognized  as 
Christians ;  it  presupposes,  therefore,  a  church  already  in 
being.  The  Lord's  Supper  is  a  social  act  by  which 
Christians  recognize  their  family  relationship,  and  their 
obligations  to  each  other,  and  their  common  Lord  ;  soli- 
tary believers  cannot  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper. 

lY.  Christianity  requires  a  ministry  —  an  order  of 
men  trained  and  set  apart  to  be  stewards  of  the  mysteries 
of  the  Gospel,  interpreters  of  Scripture  and  ambassadors 
of  Christ.  Such  an  order  cannot  be  self-originated  ;  iso- 
lated men  will  not  volunteer  for  the  work,  nor  could  they 
possess  credentials  of  their  authority  and  fitness.  The 
rule  is,  how  shall  ihey  hear  vjil] tout  a  preacher  f  and  how 
shall  tliey  preach  except  they  he  serd  ?  The  ministry  must 
spring  from  the  church,  and  the  church  must  authenti- 
cate their  mission  and  provide  for  their  support. 


BEING   OF  A   CHURCH. 


15 


Y. .  Christianity  is  a  missionarj  religion,  to  be  propa- 
gated from  heart  to  heart,  and  from  land  to  land,  by  suit- 
able methods  —  by  the  living  preacher,  by  the  transla- 
tion and  diffusion  of  the  Scriptures,  and  by  the  establish- 
ment of  new  centres  of  operation  as  it  extends.  The 
last  command  of  Christ  pledged  his  disciples  to  this 
work.  But  this  requires  an  organization  to  rest  upon, 
the  selection  of  proper  agents,  their  designation  to  their 
work,  some  provision  for  their  support,  and  for  such  other 
expenses  as  are  incidental  to  the  enterprise.  Nothing  ot 
this  is  possible  without  organization ;  the  missionary 
spirit  must  become  concrete  and  solid  in  a  society  devot- 
ing itself  to  such  ends  —  that  is,  a  church.  There  have 
been  cases  of  solitary  missionary  enterprise,  which  sprung 
only  indirectly  from  the  church ;  these  have  proved 
wholly  abortive ;  all  persistent  and  successful  missionary 
work  has  been,  in  some  form,  originated  and  directed  by 
the  church.  This  was  true  of  the  first  mission  from 
Antioch,  and  of  all  the  missions  by  which  Europe  was 
converted  during  the  Middle  Ages,  as  it  is  also  of  all 
modern  missions. 

YI.  Christians  are,  by  supposition  and  requirement, 
saints  —  free,  not  only  from  the  gross  vices  of  heathenism, 
but  exemplary  in  moral  character,  just,  temperate,  truth- 
ful, &c.  ;  a  person  of  opposite  character,  making  pretence 
of  Christianity,  is  to  be  disowned  ;  this  implies  the  exer- 
cise of  discipline,  and  the  exclusion  of  the  unworthy  or 
offending  party.  But,  in  order  to  the  exclusion  of  any, 
there  must  be  ihe  inclusion  of  suitable  and  worthy  per- 
sons as  Christians  —  in  other  words,  a  Christian  society  ; 
therefore,  Jesus  said  :  '"'' If  lie  sliall  neglect  to  hear  them., 
tell  it  unto  the  church.^'' 

YII.  Sympathy  of  opinion  and  the  force  of  outward 


16  THE   UNIVERSAL   CHURCH. 

circumstances  will  give  this  organic  union  of  Christians 
with  each  other,  a  larger  or  more  limited  scope.  All 
Christian  believers  throughout  the  world  constitute  one 
visible  church  ;  all  believers  interpreting  the  Scriptures 
alike,  and  accepting  the  same  ritual  and  discipline,  may 
constitute  a  sectarian  church  ;  all  the  Christians,  or  a 
majority  of  them,  in  a  province  or  kingdom  may  com- 
pose a  national  church  ;  this  may  be,  at  the  same  time, 
sectarian,  as  "  The  Church  of  England^  Finally,  all  the 
Christians,  whose  convenience  or  preferences  lead  to  it, 
may  unite  together  for  the  purposes  of  worship,  and  con- 
stitute a  local  churcL  Thus,  through  the  necessary  oper- 
ation of  Christianity  on  the  human  mind,  and  with  no 
express  command  enjoining  it.  Christian  Churches  spon- 
taneously grow  up,  and  we  have,  1.  The  universal 
church  of  Christ's  professed  disciples ;  2.  The  national 
or  sectarian  church ;  3.  The  particular  church  or  local 
Christian  society. 

SEC.     lY. — THE    UNIVERSAL    CHURCH  —  ITS    DEFINITION 
AND   MARKS. 

"  The  Universal  Church  consists  of  all  those  persons, 
together  with  their  children,  who  make  profession  of  the 
holy  religion  of  Christ,  and  of  obedience  to  His  laws." 
(Form  of  Gov't,  ch.  2.) 

This  definition  includes  all  nominal  Christians — Eom- 
ish,  Greek  and  Protestant  —  since  they  all  make  the  pro- 
fession required.  Neither  orthodoxy  of  faith,  nor  Scrip- 
turalness  of  order,  or  worship,  enter  into  the  definition. 
In  this  broadest  sense,  all  who  call  themselves  "  Chris- 
tians "  are  members  of  the  church. 

This  church  is  distinguished  by  certain  marks  or 
"  notes,'''  so  called,  viz.  : 


ITS  DEFINITION    AND   MARKS.  17 

1.  It  IS  ONE  —  "  The  Universal  Church  "  —  implying 
that  there  are  not  two  or  more  Churches  of  Christ,  but 
one  only. 

2.  It  is  catholic,  not  being  confined  to  one  nation,  like 
the  Jewish  Church,  but  diffused  among  all  nations. 

3.  It  is  holy  —  i.  e.,  as  distinguished  from  any  profane 
or  secular  society  —  being  consecrated  to  the  worship  of 
a  holy  God,  and  enjoining  holiness  on  its  members,  in 
conformity  with  His  laws. 

4.  It  is  apostolic,  as  being  conformed  to  the  apostles' 
doctrine,  or  organized  according  to  apostolic  instructions, 
or  founded  on  apostolic  succession  and  traditions. 

Instead  of  these  notes,  Calvin  and  other  Protestant 
writers  lay  down  three  criteria  by  which  the  true  Church 
of  Christ  may  be  distinguished  from  all  counterfeits,  viz.  : 

1.  By  the  pure  preaching  of  the  Word.  (Eph. :  ii,  11 ; 
Acts  :  II,  42  ;    Epistles  to  Timothy,  passim.) 

2.  By  the  proper  administration  of  the  Sacraments. 
(Matt. :  XXVIII,  19.     1  Cor. :  xi,  23.) 

3.  By  the  exercise  of  Scriptural  discipline.  (Matt.  : 
xviii,  15-17.) 

Where  these  three  things  are  found,  viz..  Scriptural 
preaching,  ordinances,  and  discipline,  it  may  easily  be 
admitted  there  is  a  Christian  Church  ;  but  is  not  so  easy 
to  say  whether  each  one  of  these  enters  essentially  into 
the  definition.  Even  evangelical  Protestants  would  dif- 
fer considerably  as  to  what  is  implied  in  the  pure  preach- 
ing of  the  Word,  the  due  administration  of  Sacraments, 
and  the  exercise  of  Scriptural  discipline.  Discipline  is 
one  thing  in  a  Presbyterian  and  another  thing  in  an 
Episcopal  Church.  In  the  Anglican  Church,  there  is 
no  discipline  whatever ;  in  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  but  little.     Shall  we,  for  these  reasons,  deny  that 


18  THE   UNIVERSAL   CHURCH. 

they  are  true  Churches  of  Christ?  The  due  administra- 
tion of  the  Sacraments  is  very  differently  understood  in 
Baptist  and  in  Piedobaptist  Churches. 

According  to  the  Episcopal  theory,  all  these  marks  are 
insufficient  or  false ;  a  true  Christian  Church  is  one  in 
which  "  the  succession  of  bishops  has  been  preserved 
from  the  time  of  the  apostles.  This  makes  the  Eoman 
and  Greek  Communions  true  Churches  of  Christ,  and 
vitiates  the  claim  of  all  Protestant  bodies,  to  whose  con- 
stitution that  element  is  wanting,  to  make  a  part  of  the 
church.  We  must  infer  tliat  there  is  no  precise  or  infal- 
lible criterion,  by  which  a  true  church  can  be  distin- 
guished from  a  false  one.  Whether  the  Greek,  Roman, 
Socinian  bodies,  &c.,  belong  to  the  true  Church  of  Christ 
will  be  affirmed  or  denied,  as  the  tests  are  more  strictly 
or  more  loosely  applied.  Even  if  we  lay  down  that  all 
are  members  of  the  Universal  Church  who  agree  in  hold- 
ing the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Gospel,  the  question 
returns,  what  truths  are  fundamental  f  Does  the  platform 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  contain  them?  Neither 
Richard  Baxter  nor  Augustus  Neander  could  have  been 
members  of  that  body;  neither  of  them  would  admit 
anything  to  be  fundamental  outside  the  affirmations  of 
the  apostles'  creed.  The  truth  lies  somewhere  between 
the  extremes  of  laxity  and  of  exclusiveness.  In  regard 
to  some  so  called  churches,  however,  there  is  no  danger 
of  mistake.  "  The  catholic  or  Universal  Church  has  been 
sometimes  more,  sometimes  less,  visible;  and  particular 
churches,  which  are  members  thereof,  are  more  or  less 
pure,  according  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  is  taught 
and  embraced,  and  public  wx)rship  performed  more  or 
less  purely  in  them.  The  purest  churches  under  Heaven 
are  subject  both  to   mixture  (in  their  membership)  and 


ITS  DEFINITION    AND   MARKS.  19 

error  (in  their  faith  and  worship),  and  some  have  so 
degenerated  as  to  become  no  Churches  of  Christ,  but 
Synagogues  of  Satan. "^     (Con£  of  Faith:  xxv,  4,  5.) 

It  may  be  added  that  the  Universal  Church  is  also 
distinguished  as  visible  and  invisible,  militant  and  tri- 
umphant. 

By  the  Romish  and  by  a  part  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
it  is  denied  that  there  is  any  distinction  between  the 
invisible  and  the  visible  church ;  the  two  are  held  to  be 
identical—  i.  e.,  all  who  abide  in  communion  with  the 
true  visible  church,  of  which  St.  Peter  is  the  head,  or 
which  enjoys  a  ministry  derived  by  an  unbroken  succes- 
sion of  bishops  from  the  apostles,  are  also  members  of 
the  true  spiritual  church.  Their  vital  relation  to  Christ 
is  determined  by  their  outward  relation  to  the  church. 
But  most  Protestants  distinguish  between  the  visible 
church  of  Christ's  professed  disciples,  and  that  true  spir- 
itual church  of  penitent  and  believing  souls,  which  exists 
invisibly  within  it.  The  distinction  between  the  church 
as  militant^  in  its  present  earthly  condition,  and  trium- 
phant^ in  the  persons  of  all  the  redeemed  in  Heaven,  is 
universally  admitted. 

*  Note.—  The  more  advanced  English  reformers  denied  that  theEomish  Church 
was  catholic,  or  that  the  mere  succession  of  bishops  makes  a  true  church.  Arch- 
deacon Philpott  said,  when  on  trial,  that  the  church  of  which  he  was  a  member 
would  be  catholic,  if  only  ten  persons  belonged  to  it,  because  it  agreed  with  the 
true  Catholic  Church  which  the  apostles  planted.  Bishop  Barlow,  the  consecra- 
tor  of  Arch-bishop  Parker,  said,  in  a  sermon,  that  "wheresoever  two  or  three 
simple  persons,  as  cobblers  or  weavers,  are  in  company,  and  elected  in  the  name 
of  God,  there  is  the  true  Church  of  God."  This  corresponds  with  the  saying  of 
Tertullian,  "-ubi  tres^  licet  laid,  ibi  ecclesia.'"  See  Hunt's  His'ory  of  Religious 
Thought  in  England:  1,  36, 


20  FUKM    OF    GOVERNMENT    OF 

SEC.    V.  —  SUBSTANCE    OF    THE     "  PRELIMINARY    PRINCI- 
PLES "  TO   THE   FORM   OF   GOVERNMENT  OF  THE 
PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

The  ^^ preliminary  principles^''  laid  at  the  foundation  of 
American  Presbyterianisni,  define  with  great  force  and 
precision  the  true  doctrine  of  Christian  liberty,  and  the 
right  relations  of  church  and  state,  as  follows,  viz. : 

1.  Article  first  affirms  the  great  "  formal  principle  "  of 
Protestantism,  that  "the  Word  of  God  is  the  only  infal- 
lible rule  of  faith  and  practice ;  "  maintains  the  right  of 
private  judgment  in  the  things  of  religion,  and  discards 
the  idea  of  any  other  union  of  church  and  state  than 
such  as  consists  in  the  government's  extending  just  and 
equal  protection  to  all  forms  of  worship. 

2.  Subject  to  these  conditions,  the  second  article  claims 
for  each  church  the  right  of  shaping  its  own  internal 
polity,  according  to  the  appointment  of  Christ,  and  fix- 
ing its  own  terms  of  communion.  As  no  person,  there- 
fore, can  be  lawfully  compelled,  against  his  own  convic- 
tions, to  join  or  commune  with  any  church,  so  no  person 
can  intrude  himself  into  membership  with  any  church, 
without  complying  with  its  terms  of  communion. 

3.  The  third  article  is  directed  against  Independency 
and  Quakerism,  which  either  reject  the  Sacraments,  or 
discard  the  office  of  rulers  in  the  church,  whose  right 
and  duty  it  is  to  preach  the  Gospel,  administer  ordinan- 
ces, and  maintain  discipline. 

4.  The  fourth  article  is  directed  against  Antinomianism, 
and  rnaintnins  that  "  the  end  and  touchstone  of  doctrine 
is  the  promotion  of  holiness."  This  was  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  existence  of  certain  sects,  who  held  that  mere 
faith   was  sufficient  for  salvation,  and  that,    under    the 


THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH.  21 

Gospel,  men  were  set  free  from  the  restraints  of  the  moral 
law. 

5.  In  accordance  with  this  principle,  the  fifth  article 
maintains  that  all  church  teachers  should  be  sound  in  the 
faith,  but  admits  that  there  are  doctrines  and  forms  in 
regard  to  which  good  men  may  differ ;  in  respect  to 
these.  Christians  should  exercise  mutual  forbearance. 
The  spirit  of  this  article  requires  that  all  church  teachers 
should  be  held  to  a  bona  fide  subscription  to  the  stand- 
ards of  the  church,  while  private  members  should  be 
required  to  assent  only  to  the  most  necessary  and  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  In  respect  to 
all  thmgs  non-essential,  whether  in  doctrine  or  worship. 
Christians  should  respect  each  other's  honest  convictions, 
and  exercise  a  liberal  toleration. 

6.  Tlie  sixth  article^  while  claiming  that  the  character 
and  qualifications  of  church  officers,  as  well  as  the  method 
of  their  ordination,  are  laid  down  in  the  Scriptures, 
affirms  that  the  election  of  their  religious  teachers  and 
rulers  resides  in  each  Christian  society.  This,  on  the  one 
hand,  suggests  that  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment is  of  divine  warrant,  and,  on  the  other,  forbids 
any  such  intrusion  of  ministers  upon  congregations 
against  their  will,  as  has  been  practiced  in  all  Erastian 
Churches,  including  the  Kirk  of  Scotland. 

7.  As  the  sixth  article  forbids  usurpation  in  the  house 
of  God  by  the  state,  so  the  severdh  forbids  usurpation  of 
power  by  the  church  herself.  No  church  has  the  right 
to  exercise  any  legislative  power,  properly  so  called,  but 
merely  to  interpret  and  apply  Christ's  laws.  He  is  the 
only  law-giver  in  the  church.  No  church  action  is  legit- 
itimate  except  such  as  is  founded  on  the  revealed  will  of 
God;    nor  can  any  church  judicatory  pretend  to  make 


22  THEORIES   OF   THE    RELATION 

laws  to  bind  the  conscience^  by  virtue  of  their  own 
authority.  This  article  is  directed  against  the  claim  of 
certain  churches  to  impose  indifferent  customs  in  respect 
to  vestments,  ceremonies,  &c.,  on  the  conscience  of  their 
ministers,  as  a  condition  of  their  being  permitted  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  The  article  admits  that,  even  in 
undertaking  to  interpret  Christ's  laws,  synods  and  coun- 
cils are  liable  to  err,  yet  holds  that  the  liability  is  much 
less  than  in  their  assuming  to  make  laws  by  their  own 
authority.  The  inspired  Canon,  for  example,  "  let  all 
things  {in  wo^'shij:))  he  done  decently  and  in  order ^^  may  be 
misinterpreted  so  as  to  require  ministers  to  pray  in  a  sur- 
plice, or  use  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism  ;  but  the 
liability  to  error  is  not  so  grave  as  if  a  church  should 
claim  the  right,  by  infallible  authority,  to  establish  new 
articles  of  faith. 

8.  The  eighth  and  last  article  declares,  that  "  a  stead- 
fast adherence  to  these  Scriptural  and  rational  principles 
will  contribute  to  th5  glory  and  happiness  of  any  church  ; 
and,  that  since  ecclesiastical  discipline  must  be  purely 
moral  and  spiritual  in  its  object,  and  not  attended  with 
any  civil  effects,  it  can  derive  no  force  whatever  but 
from  its  own  justice,  the  approbation  of  an  impartial 
public,  and  the  countenance  and  blessing  of  the  Great 
Head  of  the  church." 

SEC.  YI. — THEORIES  OF  THE   RELATION   BETWEEN 
CHURCH    AND   STATE. 

In  all  countries  whose  national  churches  formerly 
made,  or  at  present  make,  a  part  of  the  Romish  Church, 
the  doctrine  prevails  .that  the  state  is  bound  to  exercise 
its  power  for  the  defense  and  promotion  of  the  true  faith, 
and  for  the  suppression  or,  at  least,  the  discouragement 


BETWEEN    CHURCH   A^D   STATE.  28 

of  all  dissent.     This  view  exists  under  various  modifica- 
tions. 

1.  The  Eomish  theory  is  that  the  Pope,  as  the  vicar 
of  Christ,  is  the  absolute  spiritual  ruler  of  this  world, 
and  that  every  human  government  is  bound  to  support 
the  Papal,  and  suppress  every  other  church.  His  tem- 
poral authority  is  claimed  to  extend  to  all  countries  and 
provinces  that  have  been  expressly  made  over  to  St. 
Peter,  and  to  all  islands,  absolutely.  The  forged  dona- 
tion of  Constantine  having  assigned  Sicily  and  Sardinia 
to  Sylvester,  Bishop  of  Eome,  and  his  successors,  it  was 
argued  by  the  Canonists  that  this  is  a  property  of  all  isl- 
ands, that  they  belong  to  the  Pope. 

2.  The  Anglican  theory,  as  expounded  by  Hooker, 
Burke^  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  others,  is,  that  church  and. 
state  are  only  one  society  under  different  names,  and,  in 
order  to  the  perfection  of  both,  should  be  strictly  iden- 
tified. "  The  church  and  commonwealth  are,  therefore, 
personally,  one  society,  which  is  called  'Commonwealth,' 
as  living  under  a  certain  secular  law  and  regimen ; 
'church,'  as  living  under  the  spiritual  law  of  Christ." 
(Eccles.  Pol.  :  viii,  409.)  "  In  a  Christian  Common- 
w^ealth,  the  church  and  the  state  are  one  and  the  same 
thing,  being  different  integral  parts  of  the  same  whole." 
(Edmund  Burke:  ii,  454)  "  The  state,  in  the  exercise 
of  its  sovereignt}^,  adopts  for  itself  the  true  religion,  or 
declares  itself  Christian.  By  so  doing,  it  becomes  a  part 
of  Christ's  Holy  Catholic  Church,  or  rather  transformed 
into  it.  Where  the  nation  and  government  are  avowedly 
and  essentially  Christian,  the  state  or  nation  is  virtually 
the  church."     (Dr.  Thomas  Arnold,  Miscel.  :  p.  457.) 

It  should  be  added,  that  in  tlie  time  of  Hooker  there 
were  no  dissenters,  and  that  both  Burke  and  Arnold  rec- 


24  THEORIES  OF   THE   RELATION 

ognize  dissenters  (except  Unitarians)  as  making  part  of 
the  church,  and  equally  identified  with  the  state.  It 
belongs  to  this  theory  that  the  church  has  authority  to 
ordain  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  require  conformity  to 
them,  under  penalties  to  be  inflicted  by  the  state.  The 
laws  of  the  land  become  the  laws  of  God,  and  the  same 
persons  are  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil  rulers.  This  was 
also  the  theory  of  the  Puritan  Fathers  of  Massachusetts, 
and  of  the  English  Presbyterians,  and  was  incorporated 
in  the  "Confession  "  of  the  Westminster  Assembly. 

3.  Bisliop  Warburton's  view  varied  from  this,  in  hold- 
ing that  church  and  state  are  essentially  distinct  and 
independent  societies,  and,  for  their  mutual  advantage, 
must  be  intimately  allied  —  the  church  exerting  her  influ- 
ence in  favor  of  the  government;  the  government  pro- 
tecting and  endowing  the  church.  The  results  of  this 
alliance  are  a  settled  maintenance  of  the  clergy  and  their 
dependence  on  the  state  ;  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of 
the  sovereign,  and  the  right  of  churchmen  to  a  share  in 
the  legislature.  It  proposed  to  include,  in  England,  the 
establishment  of  Episcopac}^  the  toleration  of  dissenters, 
and  their  exclusion  from  Parliament. 

This  was  also  Calvin's  theory  of  the  proper  relation 
between  church  and  state,  as  applied-  under  his  own 
administration  at  Geneva.  The  two  were  distinct  from 
each  other,  but  should  be  intimately  connected  and  mutu- 
ally co-operative,  for  a  common  end,  viz. :  The  realiza- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  a  theocratic  common- 
wealth. The  church  was  to  infuse  a  religious  spirit  intc 
the  state  ;  the  state  was  to  uphold  and  foster  the  church. 
These  views,  in  general,  are  denominated  Erastian,  from 
Erastus  (Lieber),  a  Swiss  Jurist  of  the  16th  centurj^ 
(died  at  Basle,  1583),  who  advocated,  in  an  elaborate 


BETWEEN    CHURCH   AND   STATE.  25 

treatise,  a  union  of  church  and  state.  His  view,  more 
specifically  stated,  was,  that  no  form  of  church  polity  is 
laid  down  in  the  Scriptures  ;  no  one  church  possesses  a 
divine  sanction,  rather  than  another  ;  and  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  civil  magistrate  in  each  country  to  establish  the 
religion  of  the  majority  (being  Christian)  as  the  religion 
of  the  state,  with  all  the  advantages  that  belong  to  an 
establishment,  leaving^  to  dissenters  a  bare  tolei'ation. 

4.  The  theory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  of  other 
Protestant  bodies  in  America  is,  that  the  province  of  the 
church  and  of  the  state  is  entirely  distinct ;  each  church 
being  independentlj^  organized  for  its  own  ends,  within 
and  separate  from  the  organization  of  the  state.  This 
system  alone  preserves  the  freedom  of  the  one,  maintains 
the  equity  and  impartiality  of  the  other,  and  secures  the 
equal  rights  of  all  peaceable  citizens,  irrespective  of  their 
creed,  government  or  worship.  Every  "Erastian"  sys- 
tem, under  whatever  pretence  of  defending  and  fostering 
the  church,  really  degrades  and  enslaves  her,  and  makes 
her  an  instrument  for  oppressing  and  persecuting  others. 

SEC.  yil.  —  ORIGIN  OF  DENOMINATIONAL  CHURCHES. 

No  such  thing  as  sectarian,  or  "  denominational " 
churches  —  i.  e.,  churches  organized  separately  within 
the  church  catholic,  on  the  basis  of  sympathy  in  respect 
either  to  doctrine  or  practice  —  was  known  in  the  Apos- 
tolic Age,  nor  until  the  middle  of  the  third  century. 
The  first  instance  of  a  "  denomination  "  was  the  x^ova- 
tian  Church,  originating  A.  D.  251,  and  deriving  its 
name  from  Novatus,  a  Presbyter  and  schismatical  Bishop 
of  Rome.  This  being  the  first  instance  of  an  organized 
schism,  it  may  be  interesting  to  inquire  into  its  legiti- 
macy.    Schism  is  a  breach  of  unity  in  the  church.     It 


'l^j  ORIGIN    OF 

is  strongly  deprecated  by  the  apostles  and  the  early 
fathers,  particularh^  Ignatius,  Clement  and  Cyprian.  A 
schism  may  be  either  elementary,  as  a  violent  quarrel  or 
party  difference  among  Christians,  or  organized.  In 
neither  case  can  it  exist  without  sin  ;  but  it  will  always 
be  a  question  at  whose  door  the  sin  lies.  Allegiance  to 
Christ  is  the  primary  law  of  the  church.  Truth  is  first, 
unity  afterwards;  '" jirsl  'pure^  then  peaceahley  Where 
unity  with  the  body  of  the  church  cannot  be  maintained, 
consistently  with  obedience  to  Christ,  separation  is  a 
duty,  not  a  sin,  and  the  guilt  of  schism  rests  on  those 
who,  by  violating  Christ's  laws,  make*  such  separation 
necessary. 

Where  a  church  is  rent  into  two,  therefore,  the  major- 
ity may  be  the  schismatical  body.  Take  the  case  of  the 
English  Non-conformists,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. Christ  has  no  where  required  that  ministers  shall 
preach  in  surplices,  or  sign  a  child  with  the  cross  in  bap- 
tism, or  join  parties  in  marriage  by  means  of  a  ring. 
When  the  State  Church  insisted  on  these  usages,  and  for- 
bade any  one  to  preach  the  Gospel  who  dispensed  with 
them,  tiie  Puritans,  who  regarded  them  as  symbols  of 
Popery,  felt  bound,  in  loyalty  to  Christ,  to  separate  from 
the  Establishment.  In  their  view,  the  Bishops  were  guilty 
of  the  schism,  and  not  they. 

The  Bishops,  however,  maintained  that  these  usages 
being  in  themselves  indifferent,  the  church  had  the  right 
to  enjoin  them,  in  order  to  uniformity  and  decorum  of 
worship,  and  that  those  were  the  schismatics  who,  out  of 
a  superstitious  regard  to  trifles,  refused  to  yield  to  her 
authority. 

The  legitimacy  of  a  separation  from  the  church  must 
depend  on  the  question  of  its  necessity ;  and  of  this  neces- 


DENOMINATIONAL    CHUnCIIES.  27 

sity  an  enlightened  conscience  mast  be  the  judge.  To 
separate  out  of  a  morbid  sensitiveness  in  regard  to  things 
in  themselves  unessential,  such  as  the  mode  of  baptism, 
singing  of  hymns,  use  of  organs,  &c.,  cannot  be  justified 
on  the  ground  of  conscience,  since  Christians  are  bound 
to  have  a  conscience,  not  merely  sensitive,  but  sound  and 
enlightened. 

The  history  of  the  I^ovatian  schism  is  considerably 
obscure.  It  is  represented  by  the  "  Catholic  "  writers 
who  were  engaged  in  the  struggle  (Cyprian  of  Carthage, 
and  Cornelius  of  Eome),  as  having  grown  out  of  the 
ambition  of  turbulent  Presbyters,  taking  occasion  of  the 
discipline  of  the  church  towards  lapsed  persons  ;  but 
there  are  man}^  circumstances  to  show  that  it  originated 
in  the  resistance  of  the  Presbyters  to  the  organizing  and 
encroaching  Episcopal  power,  which  was  just  then  grow- 
ing up  in  Carthage  and  Rome.  As  a  question  about  dis- 
cipline, the  separation  of  the  Novatians  may  have  been 
unjustifiable ;  as  a  struggle  for  the  independence  of  the 
churches,  and  the  rights  of  the  Presbyters,  against  a 
usurping  Episcopacy,  it  may  have  been  legitimate  and 
necessary.  The  true  schismatics  may  have  been  Cyprian, 
Cornelius  and  their  party,  and  not  the  Novatians.  At 
all  events,  this  church,  founded  on  rigid  principles  of 
discipline,  and  embracing  the  more  earnest  and  Puritanic 
Christians,  survived,  with  high  reputation,  for  several 
centuries. 

That  the  multiplication  of  sects  by  repeated  schisms, 
since  the  Reformation,  has  involved  grievous  sin  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  or  on  both,  cannot  be  doubted. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  though  embracing  all 
western  Christendom,  became  schismatical,  when,  by 
corruptions  in  government  and  worship,  it  departed  so 


28  DEFINITION    OF    A 

far  from  the  purity  of  the  church  catholic,  as  to  oblige 
those  recognizing  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Scrip- 
tures to  separate  from  it.  The  old  catholics  now  claim, 
that  by  accepting  the  blasphemous  dogma  of  the  Papal 
infallibility,  the  Komish  Church  has  forfeited  her  claim 
to  be  regarded  as  catholic,  and  has  become  a  sect.  The 
Romish  and  the  Greek  Churches  mutually  stigmatize  and 
excommunicate  each  other  as  schismatical. 

The  Russian  Greek  Church  regards  the  Romish  Church 
as  having  become  schismatical  from  A.  D.  869,  when 
it  rejected  the  Council  of  Constantinople,  which  had 
endorsed  Photius  as  Patriarch,  and  laid  down  a  basis  for 
the  reconciliation  of  the  churches. 

The  various  Protestant  denominations  arose,  of  course, 
subsequent  to  the  Reformation.  The  Episcopal  Church 
having  broken  off  from  communion  with  Rome,  which 
it  acknowledges  to  be  a  true  church,  is  the  sect  of  a  sect. 
The  Presbyterians,  Independents,  Baptists  and  Metho- 
dists, subsequently  broke  off  from  the  Church  of  England, 
and  are  equally  sectarian. 

All  these,  according  to  the  definition  previously  given, 
make  a  part  of  the  catholic ,  or  universal  church  ;  but 
each  of  them  is  schismatical  if,  and  so  far  as,  by  corrup- 
tions in  doctrine  or  worship,  or  unscriptural  terms  of 
communion,  it  breaks  the  unity  of  the  spirit,  and  makes 
separation  by  others  a  duty.      ^ 

SEC.  VIII.  —  DEFINITION  OF  A  PARTICULAR  CHURCH. 

"  A  particular  church  consists  of  (1)  a  number  of 
professing  Christians,  together  with  (2)  their  offspring,  (3) 
voluntarily  associated  together  (4)  for  divine  worship 
and  Godly  living,  (5)  agreeable  to  the  Holy  Scriptures, 


PARTICULAR  OHURCH.  29 

(6)  and  submitting  to  a  certain  form  of  government." 
(Form  of  Gov.  :  I,  1.) 

This  definition  includes  the  statement  that  the  chil- 
dren of  professing  Christians  are  members  of  the  partic- 
ular church  to  which  their  parents  belong ;  but  it  also 
affirms  that  such  a  church  consists  of  persons  "  volunta. 
rily  associated  together ^  These  two  propositions  are 
mutually  contradictory.  The  children  have  never  "  vol- 
untarily associated  "  themselves  with  their  parents  for 
the  objects  named.  Indeed,  on  this  theory,  if  we  sup- 
pose a  community  to  exist  in  which  the  same  families 
have  resided  from  the  organization  of  the  church,'  and 
have  composed  its  membership,  no  members  of  it  except 
the  very  first  ever  did  "  voluntarily  associate  "  themselves 
together.  The  present  children  of  those  families  are 
members  because  their  parents  were  members,  and  they, 
because  their  parents,  &c. 

In  what  sense  then  are  children  members  of  the 
church  ?  The  Westminster  symbols  know  but  one  class 
of  church  members.  They  are  all  bound  by  the  same 
obligations,  and  subject  to  the  same  discipline.  On  con- 
dition only  of  knowledge  to  discern  the  Lord's  bodj^, 
and  freedom  from  scandal,  every  church  member,  young 
or  old,  is  bound  to  perform  all  the  duties  implied  in  the 
relation  ;  and,  in  particular  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and  is  liable  to  discipline  for  neglecting  it. 

This  is  the  theory  of  all  Psedobaptist  Churches  —  a 
theory  which  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe  is  carried  out  in  practice.  In  this  country,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
practice  is  directly  at  variance  with  the  theory.  Still 
holding  to  the  definition  which  makes  the  children  of 
believing  parents  members  with   them  of  the  same  par- 


30  DEFINITION    OF    A 

ticular  cliiirch,  we  do  in  no  wise  treat  them  as  such. 
Their  membership  is  connected  neither  with  privilege, 
duty,  nor  discipline.  When  any  of  them  propose  to 
come  for  the  first  time  to  the  Lord's  table,  we  regard  and 
speak  of  them  as  ^\joining  the  churchy  We  receive  them 
in  no  other  way  than  we  receive  the  children  of  heathen 
men  and  publicans.  If  they  have  a  satisfactory  religious 
experience  to  relate,  and  give  credible  evidence  of  a 
change  of  heart,"  they  are  received.  If  otherwise,  their 
supposed  birth-right  membership  counts  for  nothing. 

It  would  seem  proper,  therefore,  either  to  amend  the 
definition,  or  to  conform  our  practice  to  it.  If  we  insist 
on  infant  church  membership,  then  we  should  treat  the 
children  of  believers  as  members  of  the  sam.e  church 
with  their  parents;  and,  on  their  arriving  at  the  suitable 
age.  should  require  of  them  the  same  duties  and  subject 
them  to  the  same  discipline.  If  we  wholly  refuse  the 
practical  recognition  of  infant  membership,  we  should 
admit  the  definition  to  be  erroneous. 

I  suggest  the  latter  alternative  as  the  true  solution. 
Children  are  not  members  of  the  particular  church  to 
which  their  parents  belong,  until  they  voluntarily  asso- 
ciate themselves  to  it.  They  are  members  of  the  "  church 
catholic,''  in  the  sense  already  explained  —  i.  e.,  thej^  are 
Christians  in  the  generaF  sense,  because  they  are  born 
within  the  nominal  Christian  Church.  They  are  neither 
Jews,  Pagans,  nor  Mohammedans.  Their  parents,  though 
perhaps  far  from  possessing  a  Christian  character,  do,  in 
a  general  way,  "  make  profession  of  the  holy  religion  of 
Christ."  Ask  them  what  religion  they  are  of,  and  they 
will  say,   "  the  Christian  religion."     If  they  affirm  the 


PARTICULAK    CHUKCII.  81 

contrarj,  of  course  tliey  are  to  be  legardcd  as  outside 
the  Catholic  Church,  the  same  as  Pagans."^ 

SEC.  IX. — ORGAXIZATIOX   AND    MINISTRY    OF  THE    FIRST 
PARTICULAR   CHURCHES. 

ISTo  express  command  was  anywhere  given  to  collect 
or  organize  Christian  Churches ;  but  the  Jews  were 
familiar  with  the  idea  both  of  a  national  church  and  of 
local  worshiping  societies.  The  synagogue  was  the 
parish  or  local  church.  In  large  towns,  like  Jerusalem, 
there  were  many  synagogues  ;  but  the  idea  that  all  the 
w^orshipers  in  a  place  constitute  the  church  in  that  place 
w^as  distinctively  Christian.  The  first  converts  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  seem  to  have  been  regarded  as  forming 
"  the  church  "  in  Jerusalem.  Afterwards,  it  is  said,  Acts  : 
II,  47,  "  the  Lord  added  to  the  church  daily,"  &c. ;  and 
this  is  the  first  mention  of  a  Christian  Church.  In  the 
same  way,  churches  were  gathered  in  Samaria,  Acts  : 
YIII,  12;  Antioch,  Acts:  xi,  26;  throughout  Judea  and 
G-alilee,  Acts:  ix,  31  ;  and  in  Syria  and  Ciiicia,  Acts: 
XV,  41 ;  XVI,  5  ;  '^  And  so  were  ilie  chiircltes  established  in 
the  faith ^  and  increased  in  number  daihjy 

For  these  congregations  of  crude  and  untaught  con- 
verts, some  provision  for  teaching  and  government  was 
a  primary    necessity.       The  apostles  could  not  remain 

*NoTE.  — "  From  all  these  facts,  it  is  evident  that  a  person  maj-  be  a  member  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  at  large  and  not  a  member  of  a  particular  church.  A  minis- 
ter is  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ  at  large,  but  is  never,  in  the  proper 
sense,  a  member  of  a  particular  church.  This  I  conceive  to  be  the  exact  situation 
of  persons  baptized  in  infancy.  They  are  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ  —  that 
is,  of  the  church  general.  Baptism  renders  any  person  capable  of  membership  iu 
a  particular  church,  if  he  is  disposed  and  otherwise  prepared  to  unite  himself  to 
it.  Bat  neither  this  nor  his  profession  of  religion  will  constitute  him  such  a  mem- 
ber. This  can  be  done  in  no  other  way  but  by  means  of  that  mutual  covenant 
between  him  and  the  church,  which  has  been  mentioned  above."  Dwight's  The- 
ology, vol.  IV,  p.  322. 


o2  THE    UNOFFICIAL 

long  in  any  one  place  themselves,  nor  could  a  competent 
native  ministry,  at  least  in  Gentile  Christian  Churches, 
be  raised  up  on  the  instant.  This  necessity  was  met  by 
a  temporary  supernatural  provision,  that  of  the  charis- 
mata^ an  arrangement  wonderfully  adapted,  in  the  wisdom 
of  God,  to  bridge  over  the  perilous  period  between  the 
departure  of  some  apostle  or  evangelist  from  a  church 
they  had  gathered  of  converted  Gentiles,  and  the  devel- 
opment in  knowledge  and  Christian  character  of  some 
member  of  the  church,  itself,  qualifying  him  to  become 
its  pastor.  This  peculiar  arrangement  lasted  only  during 
that  interval,  and,  as  soon  as  possible,  gave  place  to  that 
ordinary  and  permanent  ofiice  called  "the  ministry." 

The  two  forms  of  provision,  therefore,  for  the  care  of 
the  infant  churches,  may  be  distinguished  as, 

].  The  ministry  of  gifts,  consisting  of, 

a.  The  unofficial. 

h.  The  official. 

11.  The  ministry  of  orders. 

SEC.  X.  — THE  UNOFFICIAL  MINISTRY  OF  "GIFTS." 

This  consisted  of  (1)  prophets,  (2)  tongue?,  (3)  inter- 
pretation of  tongues,  (4)  discerning  of  spirits,  (5)  teach- 
ing, (6)  government,  (7)  healing,  (8)  miracles  generally, 
with  some  others  of  a  more  doubtful  character.  (1  Cor.  : 
xir,  8,  28.) 

The  charismata  were  a  supernatural  provision  for 
the  instruction  and  government  of  the  infant  Gentile 
Churches,  during  the  interval  between  their  organization 
and  their  being  provided  with  a  suitable  native  ministry. 
In  the  absence  of  any  competent  church  officers,  the 
Holy  Spirit  provided  for  the  training  of  the  early  con- 


.MINISTRY    OF    GIFTS.  oo 

verts,  by  conferring  special  "gifts"  on  individual  disci- 
ples, adapted  to  the  various  wants  of  the  cliurches. 

The  yapidiia  was  apparently  an  exaltation,  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  of  the  individuars  special  capability  for 
usefulness.  The  man  who  had  a  natural  or  acquired  fit- 
ness for  any  particular  line  of  Christian  work,  found  that 
fitness  exalted,  and  himself  impelled  to  its  exercise  by  an 
inward  divine  influence.     Thus  his  special  talent  became 

a  yapi(7ij.a. 

For  the  instruction  of  the  cliurch,  the  gifts  of  ''  proph- 
ecy ''  and  '•  teaching  "  were  provided.  The  gift  of  "  teach- 
ing "  (comprehending  both  the  "  word  of  knowledge  '  and 
the  "  word  of  wisdom  ")  answered  nearest  to  the  ordinary 
work  of  '^preaching.''  The  gift  of  "prophecy"  seems  to 
have  been  a  faculty  for  warm  and  impressive  Christian 
exhortation.  Acts :  xv,  82 ;  "  And  Judas  and  Silas 
being  'prophets^  also  exhorted  the  brethren  with  many 
words  and  confirmed  them."  1  Cor.  :  xiv,  8  ;  "  But  he 
that  prophesieth,  speaketh  unto  men  to  edification  and 
exhortation  and  comfort." 

The  gift  of  tongues  was  partly  to  aid  in  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  to  strangers,  and  partly  to  manifest,  sig- 
nally, the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  assembly. 
The  interpretation  was  necessary  for  the  edification  of 
those  to  whom  the  tongue  was  unknown. 

The  gift  of  ^^ government'^  was  the  improvement  of  a 
natural  faculty  for  administration  and  practical  work. 

"The  discerning  of  spirits  "  was  necessary  in  order  to 
the  detection  of  imposture.  The  gift  of  "  healing  "  was, 
perhaps,  a  supernatural  exaltation  of  the  medical  skill  of 
some  disciple,  for  the  relief  of  sufiering  in  the  church  ; 
and  the  "'gift  oi  miracles'  generally,  was  for  the  purpose 


34  THE    OFFICIAL 

of  overawing  opposition  and  convincing  unbelief.     (Con. 
and  How. :  I,  cli.  xiii.) 

We  have  no  reason'  to  believe  that  the  possession  of 
these  gifts  was  peculiar  to  the  Corinthian  Church.  The 
exigencies  of  other  infant  churches  equally  called  for 
them.  It  was  the  disorders  connected  with  their  exercise 
in  Corinth,  that  led  to  the  more  special  mention  of  them 
there.  In  regard  to  them,  the  following  facts  may  be 
noticed  : 

1.  That  they  served  as  a  substitute  for  the  ordinary 
ministry  in  Corinth,  of  which  no  traces  yet  appear. 

2.  That  they  were  bestowed  very  liberally,  not  upon 
a  few,  but  upon  many  members  of  the  church,  and  vv^ith- 
out  regard  to  the  spiritual   attainments  of  the  recipients. 

8.  That  they  were  sometimes  exercised  without  discre- 
tion, in  a  tumultuous  and  disorderly  ^vay,  and,  in  this 
form,  provoked  the  ridicule  of  "unbelievers.'' 

4.  That,  when  properly  used,  they  tended  to  the  com- 
fort of  disciples  and  the  conversion  of  others. 

5.  That  these  gifts  were  often  valued  by  the  early  dis- 
ciples in  the  inverse  proportion  to  their  usefulness ;  the 
gift  of  tongues  most,  and  that  of  teaching  and  prophecy 
least. 

6.  That,  being  only  an  elementary  and  mechanical 
method  for  the  training  of  the  infant  church,  they  were, 
as  soon  as  possible,  dispensed  with  ;  and,  that  being  only 
"gifts"  and  not  '■'■  graces^'^  the  apostle  regarded  them  all 
as  of  less  value  than  the  single  grace  of  Christian  charity. 

SEC.  XL  —  THE  OFFICIAL  MINISTRY  OF  GIFTS. 

This  consisted  of  the  apostles  alone.  The  apostolic 
ofi&ce  was  official^  because  it  included  only  a  select  num- 
ber of  men,  expressly  commissioned  for  a  certain  work. 


MINISTRY   OF   GIFTS.  35 

At  the  same  time,  it  belonged  to  the  ministry  of  gifis^ 
because  it  was  adapted  to  the  infant  and  forming  condi- 
tion of  the  church,  and  was,  therefore,  transient;  and 
because  the  apostles  were  fitted  for  their  work  by  a  large 
bestowal  of  charismata  upon  them.  They  possessed  all 
these  "gifts"  which  were-  parcelled  out  singly  among 
other  disciples  —  the  gift  of  "  miracles  "  in  general, 
including  the  power,  not  only  of  "  healing,"  but  of 
"  destroying  ;"  the  gifts  of  "  prophecy  "  and  "  teaching," 
the  gift  of  "  tongues,"  of  "  discerning  spirits,"  of  "  gov- 
ernment," and  the  rest.  Being  themselves  "  unlearned 
and  ignorant  men,"  these  were  rendered  necessary  by  the 
nature  of  their  work,  which  was  nothing  less  than  laying 
the  foundations  of  the  Christian  Church.  (Con.  and 
How. :  I,  433.) 

The  apostles  were  special  and  "extraordinary  "  officers, 
appointed  to  found  and  organize  the  Church  of  Christ, 
by  preaching  the  Gospel  and  testifying,  as  eye-witnesses, 
to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  The  following  particulars 
belong  essentially  to  the  office  : 

1.  Their  number  was  limited  to  twelve,  correspondino- 
to  the  number  of  the  ancient  tribes  (leaving  out  the  tribe 
of  Levi).  Mat. :  xix,  28  :  "Ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve 
thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes,"  &c.  Eev. :  xxi,  14 ; 
"  The  wall  of  the  city  had  twelve  foundations,  and  in 
them  the  name  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb." 

"2.  The  apostles  must  have  been  called,  personally,  by 
Christ.  This  was  the  case  with  all  the  original  twelve  ; 
and  when  a  vacancy  occurred,  by  the  lapse  and  death  of 
Judas,  Christ  returned  in  person  to  call  his  successor. 
Acts :  XXVI,  16  ;  "  P'or  this  cause  I  have  appeared  unto 
thee,  to  make  thee  a  minister  and  a  witness,"  &c.  That 
is,  the  reason  why  Christ  mAist  personally  appear  to  Saul, 


36  THE    OFFICIAL 

was  to  call  him  by  his  own  voice  to  the  apostolic  office. 

3.  It  follows  from  this,  that  the  apostles  must  have 
seen  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Acts  :  xxii,  l-i,  15  ;  "  The 
God  of  our  fathers  hath  chosen  thee,  that  thou  sliould'st 
know  His  will,  and  see  that  Just  One,  and  hear  the 
words  of  His  mouth,  for  thou  shalt  be  His  witness  unto 
all  men,"  &c.  1  Cor.:  ix,  1;  "Am  I  not  an  apostle? 
am  I  not  free  ?  have  I  not  seen  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  ?  " 
By  the  challenge,  "  Am  I  not  free  ?  "  Paul  affirms  his 
independent  authority  as  an  apostle.  He  was  not  made 
such  by  any  human  election,  and  was  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  any  man  for  it.  (See  Gal.  :  I,  1 ;  "  An  apostle,  not 
of  man^  neither  by  men,  but  by  Jesus  Christ."  See,  also? 
1  Cor.  :  IX,  19.)  This  passage,  therefore,  decisively 
affirms,  that  if  Paul  had  been  called  to  the  office  by  men, 
and  laad  not  seen  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  could  not  be 
an  apostle. 

4.  The  apostles  must  be  able  to  testify  as  eye-witnesses 
to  the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection.  Luke :  xxiv,  46  ; 
"  And  He  said  unto  them,  thus  it  behoved  Christ  to  suf- 
fer and  to  rise  from  the  dead  ;  and  ye  are  witnesses  ot 
these  things."  Acts:  ii,  32;  "This  Jesus  hath  God 
raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are  witnesses.^''  Acts:  xxvi, 
16  ;  "  For  this  cause  have  I  appeared  unto  thee,  to  make 
thee  both  a  minister  and  a  witness^^^  &c.  If  Paul  had 
merely  been  able  to  report  on  '^  hearsay'^  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ,  and  not  as  an  eye  witness,  he  would 
have  been  incompetent  to  take  part  inlaying  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Christian  Church.     {Vide,  also.  Acts:  i,  21.) 

5.  The  apostles  must  be  able  to  work  miracles.  Christ 
expressly  promised  this  ;  and  the  apostles  appealed  to  the 
fact  in  evidence  of  their  mission.  1  Cor.:  Xll,  12; 
"Trulv,   i\\e- signs  of  an   apostle  were  wrought  among 


MINISTRY   OF   GIFTS.  87 

you,  in  signs  and  wonders  and  might}^  deeds."  The 
power  to  work  miracles  was  a  necessary  attestation  of 
the  apostolic  office. 

SEC.  XII.  —  ATTEMPTS  TO  PEEPETUATE   THE   MINISTRY  OF 

GIFTS. 

Notwithstanding  the  evidence  that  the  ministry  of 
gifts  was  a  temporary  expedient,  designed  for  the  infancy 
of  the  church,  attempts  have  been  made  to  perpetuate  it, 
both  in  the  unofficial  and  the  official  form.  In  the  prim- 
itive church,  it  was  believed  that  the  power  of  working 
miracles,  by  healing  disease,  casting  out  devils,  speaking 
with  tongues,  infallibly  interpreting  Scripture,  &c.,  still 
continued.  The  same  claim  is  still  made  for  the  Romish 
Church.  Fanatical  bodies  occasionally  arose  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  have  arisen  in  later  times,  pretending 
the  power  of  working  miracles,  of  which  the  Irvingites 
in  London  and  the  Mormons  in  this  country  are  recent 
examples. 

In  all  prelatical  churches,  it  is  claimed  that  the  official 
ministry  of  gifts  has  been  perpetaated  from  the  time  of 
the  apostles  till  now ;  that  the  order  of  apostles  is  still 
in  existence  in  great  numbers  —  all  bishops  being  suc- 
cessors of  the  twelve,  and  inheriting  the  same  office,  in 
all  that  is  essential  to  it.  The  heads  of  proof  for  this 
claim  are  such  as  the  following : 

1.  The  essential  things  in  the  apostolic  office  were  not, 
having  seen  Christ,  and  being  called  by  him  personally, 
being  able  to  testif}^  as  eye-witnesses  to  his  resurrection, 
to  work  miracles,  &c.,  but  the  power  to  transmit  a  special 
grace  of  office  by  ordination  of  a  lawful  ministr}^,  and  to 
govern  the  church  in  Christ's  name.  Therefore,  Christ 
breathed  on  the  apostles  and  said.   Receive  ye  the  Holy 


38  ATTEMPTS   TO   PERPETUATE 

Ghost^  and  promised  to  be  with  them,  even  unto  the  end 
of  the  world  —  that  is,  with  their  successors,  who,  ever 
since  the  first  century,  have  been  called  "  bi's'hops." ' 

2.  There  is  no  evidence  that  any  others  than  apostles 
exercised  the  riojht  of  ordaininof. 

8.  Various  others  besides  the  original  twelve  are  called 
apostles,  as  Barnabas,  Epaphroditus,  Andronicus  and 
Junias.  (Acts  :  xiv,  14 ;  Eom. :  xvi,  7  ;  Phil.  :  ii,  25, 
and  IV,  18.) 

4.  The  apostles  set  the  example  of  perpetuating  their 
office  in  the  case  of  Matthias.     (Acts  :  i,  20.) 

5.  Timothy,  Titus  and  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches 
plainly  exercised  apostolic  powers,  such  as  ordaining, 
governing  the  church,  &c. 

To  these  is  added  the  historical  evidence  that  an  Epis- 
copal constitution  has  prevailed  in  the  church  from  the 
time  of  the  apostles  ;  that  Ignatius  and  other  primitive 
fathers  speak  of  bishops  as  having  succeeded  to  the  apos- 
tles, and  that  no  other  form  of  government  was  known 
in  the  church,  till  after  the  Reformation. 

To  these  claims,  we  reply  in  order,  as  follows : 

1.  The  apostles  united  in  themselves  two  separate 
functions.  They  were  inspired  and  miraculously  en- 
dowed witnesses  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  they 
were  preachers  of  the  Grospel.  In  the  first  character,  as 
already  shown,  they  could  have  no  successors.  In  the 
second,  their  successors  are  all  faithful  ministers  of  the 
Grospel.  It  is  with  tliese^  and  not  with  bishops  alone,  that 
Christ  promised  to  be,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

2.  As  respects  the  claim  that  none  but  the  apostles 
and  the  bishops,  their  successors,  could  have  the  right  to 
ordain,  it  is  replied,  that  Timothy  was  ordained  by  the 
hands  of  the  presbytery.     (1  Tim.  :  iv,  14.)     This  act  is 


THE    MrXISTRY    OF    GIFTS.  89 

Claimed  in  the  Episcopal  Church  to  have  been  Timothy's 
consecration  as  bishop ;  and  the  only  escape  from  the  con- 
clusion that  presbyters  or  elders  took  part  in  it  is  the 
gratuitous  and  absurd  assumption  that  all  the  Presbytery 
consisted  of  apostles."^ 

3.  To  the  allegation  that  various  others  besides  the 
original  twelve  are  called  "  apostles,"  it  is  re|)lied,  that 
ai^ostolos  is  used  in  the  New  Testament  in  two  distinct 
senses. 

a.  Its  technical  and  official  meaning,  in  which  it  is 
applied  only  to  the  original  twelve  and  Paul. 

h.  Its  general  etymological  sense  of  delegate  or  mis- 
sionary, in  w^hich  it  is  applied  a  few  times  to  other  per- 
sons, as  Barnabas,  who  was  a  specially  appointed  mis- 
sionary (Acts :  XIV,  l-I),  and  Epaphroditus,  who  was  the 
messenger  of  the  Philippians  to  Paul.  (Phil.  :  ii,  25  ; 
IV,  18.  See  Con.  and  How. :  1,  ch.  xiii,  for  a  table  of 
the  uses  of  apostolos  in  N.  T.) 

4.  To  the  argument  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  apos- 
tolic office,  drawn  fi'om  the  case  of  Matthias,  it  is  replied, 
that  Christ  personally  called  twelve  apostles,  correspond- 
ing to  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  and  gave  no  intimation 
that  the  number  was  ever  to  exceed  twelve.  After  the 
death  of  Judas,  Peter  (who  was  often  hasty  in  speech 
and  action)  proposed  that  some  competent  person  should 
be  chosen,  by  lot  or  ballot,  to  fill  his  place.  Nominating 
two,  they  drew  lots  between  them.  Matthias  was  chosen, 
and  "was  numbered  with  the  eleven  apostles."  But 
there  is  good  reason  for  regarding  this  procedure  as 
wholly  unauthorized  and  invalid,  viz.  : 

a.  The  apostles  were  required  to  tarry  at  Jerusalem 
until  they  should  be  endowed  with  power  from  on  high, 

*  See  Appendix  A . 


40  ATTEMPTS  TO    PERPKTrATE 

implying  that  they  were  to  undertake  no  official   work 
till  then.     This  power  had  not  yet  been  bestowed. 

h.  No  mention  whatever  of  Matthias  occurs  after  this 
event — contrary  to  what  might  have  been  expected,  on 
the  supposition  that  this  was  a  legitimate  transaction. 

c.  Christ  himself,  by  personally  calling  Paul,  supplied 
the  place  of  Judas,  thus  making  the  number  twelve 
good,  and  never  called  any  others. 

d.  The  election  of  Matthias  is  merely  related  as  a 
historic  fact,  without  anything  to  indicate  its  approval  by 
the  Great  Head  of  the  church. 

It  is  no  answer  to  these  statements,  that  after  the  elec- 
tion of  Matthias  and  before  the  calling  of  Paul,  the 
apostles  are  spoken  of  as  ^Uhe  twelve.''^  "The  twelve"  is 
merely  the  official  title  of  the  college  of  apostles.  They 
are  so  called  after  the  death  of  Judas  and  before  the 
election  of  Matthias,  w^hen  there  were  certainly  but 
eleven.  John  :  XX,  24 ;  "  But  Thomas,  one  of  the 
tw^elve,  was  not  with  them."  1  Cor. :  XV,  5;  "  He  was 
seen  of  Cephas,  then  of  the  twelve." 

It  is  said  there  was  a  divine  warrant  for  this  election 
in  the  passage  quoted  by  Peter,  ^^His  bishopnch  let  another 
take.''  We  reply  :  another  did  take  his  office  by  the  per- 
sonal call  of  Christ,  viz.,  Paul. 

But  it  is  said,""  The  lot  fell  upon  Matthias,  and  he  was 
numbered  with  the  eleven  apostles." 

Answer.  —  The  lot  must  have  fallen  upon  one  of  the 
two,  and  the  statement  only  implies  that  he  was  reckoned 
an  apostle  by  those  who  elected  him.  But  no  subsequent 
recognition  of  the  act  occurs. 

Admitting,  however,  that  the  election  of  Matthias  w^as 
valid,  the  transaction  makes,  in  the  most  explicit  wa}^, 
against  the  claim  of  Episcopal  Ijishops  to  be  apostles. 


THE    MINISTRY  OF   GIFTS.  41 

Peter  states  what,  in  his  view,  was  an  indispensable  qual- 
ification for  the  office,  viz.  :  Having  been  so  personally 
acquainted  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  to  be  a  compe- 
tent witness  to  the  fact  of  His  resurrection.  (Acts  :  i,  21, 
23.)  Whatever  maj^  be  said  of  the  election  of  Matthias 
as  successor  to  Judas,  no  one  can  now  pretend  to  be  an 
apostle  who  cannot  testify  as  ej^e- witness  to  that  fact. 

If  it  is  said  that  this  view  of  the  transaction  is  injuri- 
ous to  the  inspired  authority  of  the  sacred  writer,  it  is 
replied,  that  the  effect  of  inspiration  is  to  secure  a  cor- 
rect report  of  things  as  Vaey  occurred,  not  to  endorse 
their  legitimacy. 

The  conclusion  will  be,  that  the  special  ministry  of 
gifts,  both  unofficial  and  official,  terminated  at  the  close 
of  the  Apostolic  Period,  and  was  succeeded  bv  the  perma- 
nent ministrij  of  orders. 

SEC.    XIIL — HISTORICAL    EVIDE^X'E    FOR    THE    SUPPOSED 
PERPETUATION  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  GIFTS. 

The  proofs  alleged  in  favor  of  the  continuance  of  the 
w?zofhcial  ministry  of  gifts  in  the  church,  are  found  in 
the  supposed  cases  of  miraculous  exorcism.,  healino- 
restoration  from  death,  speaking  with  tongues,  &c.,  in  tlie 
])rimitive  church;  and,  in  addition  to  these,  of  number- 
less cases,  in  the  Romish  Church,  of  weeping  or  winking 
images,  control  by  saints,  of  birds,  beasts  and  the  ele- 
ments, prophecy,  liquefaction  of  blood.  (St.  Januarius 
St.  Peter  of  Arbues,  &c.) 

These  are  so  easily  explained  as  the  fruit  of  supersti- 
tion, or  imposture,  as  to  require  no  detailed  refutation.* 

*  These  pretended  Romish  miracles  are  mostly  copied,  with  close  imitation, 
after  those  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  ;  many  of  them,  also,  after  those  of  Elijah 
Elisha  and  other  Old  Testament  worthies.  There  is  not  a  miracle  recorded  of 
Jesus,  that  is  not  paralleled  and  even  greatly  exceeded  in  the  lives  of  the  monas 
tic  saints.    (  Vide  Legendes  Pieuses,  ch.  1.) 


42     EVIDENCE  FOR  SUPPOSED  PERPETUATION 

It  is  also  claimed,  that  the  official  ministry  of  gifts,  or 
the  apostleship,  still  abides  in  the  church,  having  been 
perpetuated  by  an  unbroken  succession  from  St.  Peter, 
or  St.  John.  In  support  of  this  claim,  lists  are  given  of 
the  names  of  bishops  extending  from  them  to  their  pres- 
ent pretended  successors ;  in  the  Eomish  Church,  from 
St.  Peter  to  Pius  IX  ;  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  from  St. 
John  to  the  English  and  American  bishops. 

In  addition  to  the  evidence  already  given,  that  the 
apostolic  office  was  not  transmissible,  we  allege,  histori- 
cally, in  disproof  of  this  claim,  as  follows  : 

1.  x\l though  full  lists  of  names  are  given,  as  handing 
down  an  apostolical  succession,  evidence  is  entirely  lack- 
ino"  as  to  a  large  number  of  the  parties  named  —  who 
they  were,  whether  duly  qualified  and  canonically 
ordained,  date  of  service,  &c.  The  only  authentic 
accounts  of  the  succession  of  bishops,  which  anywhere 
existed,  were  those  kept  in  the  church  books,  called 
diptychs.  But  there  is  no  mention  of  such  books  before 
the  fourth  century,  and  any  other  supposed  or  pretended 
church  archives  rest  upon  nothing  but  vague  tradition. 

The  first  to  speak  of  any  succession  of  bishops  is  Ire- 
n^eus  (circ.  A.  D.  180),  and  his  arrangement  is  contra- 
dicted by  othey  writers.  Then,  even  as  to  the  succession 
in  the  Church  of  Kome  —  the  greatest  and  best  known 
Qf  all — there  is  irreconcilable  confusion  at  the  very 
beirinning.     Iren^us  gives  the  first. four  thus:  1.  Peter; 

2.  Linus ;  8.  Anacletus ;  4.  Clemens,  Tertullian,  twenty 
years  later,  transposes  them  thus :  1.   Peter;  2.  Clemens; 

3.  Linus  ;  4.  Anacletus.  Augustine  shuflles  them  again, 
with  this  result:  1.  Peter;  2.  Linus;  3.  Clemens;  4. 
Anacletus. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  false  intrusion  of  Peter  at  the 


OF   THE    MINISTRY   OF   GIFTS.  43 

head  of  the  list  (there  being  no  evidence  whatever  that 
he  was  ever  even  in  the  City  of  Rome),  the  other  dis- 
crepancies show  that  it  was  drawn  merely  from  tradition. 
(See  Jacobs,  p.  71.) 

The  Romish  line  afterwards  is  full  of  confusion,  uncer- 
tainty and  the  most  violent  irregularities. 

2.  Besides  this,  and  in  preference  to  it,  the  Anglican 
and  Episcopal  Churches  claim  to  derive  an  unbroken 
apostolic  succession  from  the  ancient  British  Church, 
and  from  St.  John  through  the  ancient  Gallic  Church. 

As  to  the  first,  which  it  is  alleged  was  planted  by  St. 
Paul,  or  some  other  person  independent  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  we  reply  : 

a.  That  the  history  of  the  planting  of  Christianity  in 
Britain  is  wholly  fabulous  and  conjectural. 

h.  That  no  records  are  even  pretended  of  the  succes- 
sion of  bishops  in  that  church,  for  the  first  five  centuries. 

c.  That  whatever  may  have  been  the  original  British 
Church,  it  was  almost  entirely  extirpated  by  the  heathen 
Saxons  (middle  of  the  fifth  century). 

d.  That,  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  (596),  there 
was  found  in  Britain  a  feeble  and  scattered  church,  v/ith 
an  Episcopal  constitution,  independent  of  Rome,  but 
equally  corrupt  and  superstitious.  Obviously,  therefore, 
nothing  of  the  pretended  apostolic  succession  can  be 
traced  through  this  line.  ^ 

As  to  the  succession  from  St.  John,  we  are  told  that 
in  A.  D.  596.  Augustine,  the  Monk,  with  forty  others, 
was  sent,  by  Pope  Gregory  I,  to  convert  the  Anglo-Sax- 
ons, and  establish  the  authority  of  Rome  in  England, 
both  which  he  effected.  B}^  direction  of  the  Pope,  he 
went  to  Aries,  in  Gaul,  and  was  there  consecrated  bishop, 
by  Etherich  (or  Yigilius?),  bishop  of  that  city :    (Nean- 


44  FALS?:    AND    TRUE    DOCTRINE    OF 

der:  iii,  14j,  and  the  Bishop  of  Aries,  it  is  claimed^ 
derived  his  succession  from  the  bishops  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  so  from  St  John.     To  this,  it  is  enough  to  reply  : 

e.  That  the  derivation  of  the  churches  in  Gaul,  direct 
from  Asia  Minor,  is  a  mere  matter  of  •  conjecture. 
(INTeander:  i,  84.) 

/.  But,  even  if  so  derived,  no  names  of  any  Gallic 
Bishops  are  preserved  for  the  first  three  centuries ;  and 
from  thence  to  the  time  of  Augustine  the  Monk,  only 
an  imperfect  and  uncertain  list,  with  no  evidence  accom- 
panying it. 

3.  The  succession  of  the  English  bishops  from  the 
Romish  Church,  at  the  time  of  the  Eeformation,  is  open 
to  very  serious  suspicion." 

SEC.  XIV.  —  THE  FALSE  AND  THE  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE 
APOSTOLIC    SUCCESSION. 

It  has  been  already  shown  that  the  apostles,  as  such, 
or  in  what  constituted  the  peculiarity  of  their  office, 
could  have  no  successors.  As  respects  their  work  of 
preaching  the  Gospel,  all  true  ministers  of  Christ  are 
their  successors.  In  the  Episcopal  Church,  it  is  held, 
that  the  peculiarity  of  the  apostolic  office  was  the  right 
to  ordain^  and  the  power,  received  direct  from  Christ,  to 
hand  down  a  certain  mysterious  grace  of  office  to  other 
apostles,  who  should  succeed  them  to  the  end  of  the 
world ;  that,  in  order  to  the  transmission  of  this  grace, 
there  must  be  an  unbroken  succession  of  apostles  (now 
called  bishops),  touching  hand  to  hand  all  the  way  down 
from  the  original  twelve ;  that  without  such  a  succes- 
sion, there  is  no  authorized  ministry  on  earth,  since  there 
is  no  one  having  the  right  to  ordain  ;  and  without  such 
a  ministry,  there  is  no  true  Church  of  Christ ;  thus,  mak- 

*  See  Appeuuix  B. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   SUCCESSION.  45 

ing  the  very  existence  of  the  church  depend  on  the  min- 
istry, and  on  the  ministry  constituted  in  one  particular 
way.  It  is  boldly  affirmed,  that  if  there  is  no  such  suc- 
cession, or  if  such  a  succession,  having  been  begun,  has 
been  broken  off  any  time  during  tlie  past  ages,  there  is 
not  now  on  earth  any  true  church,  nor  any  lawful  minis- 
try, nor  ev,er  could  be,  unless  Christ  should  return  in 
person  to  re-establish  them. 

If  such  vital  consequences  depend  on  an  unbroken 
apostolic  succession,  it  is  reasonable  to  demand  that  the 
existence  of  such  a  "  grace  "  should  be  made  palpable, 
and  that  every  step  in  the  process,  from  now  back  to  the 
twelve  apostles,  should  be  rigidly  demonstrated. 

We  deny  that  any  such  succession  is  promised  in  Scrip- 
ture, or  can  be  historically  traced,  or  can  be  in  any  man- 
ner shown  to  be  now  extant.  The  lists  of  Bishops  of 
Rome  or  of  Aries,  reaching  back  to  St.  Peter  and  St. 
John,  consist,  for  several  centuries,  of  mere  names,  with 
no  evidence  whatever  that  they  answer  to  real  persons, 
or  that  those  persons  were  duly  qualified  and  canonically 
ordained.  Percival  (Apol.  for  Apost.  Sue.)  and  others 
claim  that  they  are  not  bound  to  produce  any  such  evi- 
dence ;  that  it  is  enough  to  show  the  fact  of  an  Episcopal 
constitution  through  all  periods,  and  that  this  includes, 
of  course,  the  regular  and  canonical  ordination  of  all 
persons  who  appear  on  the  lists  as  bishops. 

Archbishop  Whately,  on  the  other  hand,  affirms,  with 
the  amplest  historical  warrant,  that  during  long  periods 
in  the  Middle  Ages  there  was  gross  disregard  of  both 
Scriptural  and  canonical  laws  in  the  ordination  of  bish- 
ops; that  children,  drunkards,  illiterate  and  profligate 
laymen,  were  consecrated ;  that  bishops  obtained  the 
office  by  bribery,  and  were  intruded  into  their  dioceses 


46  FALSE   AND  TRUE    DOCTRINE   OF 

by  force  ;  and,  "  in  fine,  there  were  so  serious  disorders, 
that  there  is  not  a  minister  in  Christendom  who  can  trace 
11  J),  wnth  an}^  approach  to  certainty,  his  spiritual  pedi- 
gree." We  have  no  objection  to  admit  that  for  several 
centuries  past  there  may  have  been  an  unbroken  succes- 
sion of  bishops  in  the  Eomish  and  Anglican  Churches ; 
but  it  is  of  no  avail  to  demonstrate  the  succession  for 
even  a  thousand  years,  if  it  cannot  be  equally  proven 
for  the  remainder.  The  strength  of  the  chain  is  only  as 
the  strength  of  its  weakest  link  ;  and  every  link  in  this 
succession  is  absolutely  worthless,  the  soundness  of  which 
cannot  be  historically  demonstrated.  The  Episcopal 
claim,  in  this  matter,  is  not  only  false  and  superstitious 
in  its  nature,  but  is  wanting  in  evidence  even  to  the 
extent  of  absurdity. 

The  true  doctrine  of  the  apostolic  succession  is,  that 
there  has  never  failed  to  be  a  Church  of  Christ  on  earth 
holding  the  apostles'  doctrine,  and  that  this  church  has 
in  all  ages  originated  and  lawfully  commissioned  a  min- 
istry, by  whom  the  Word  has  been  preached  and  the 
sacraments  administered  according  to  Christ's  appoint- 
ment. This  true  church  has  been  more  or  less  obscure 
under  the  Christian  dispensation,  as  it  often  was  under 
the  Jewish.  Jn  the  time  of  Elijah,  it  had  apparently 
become  extinct,  but  it  still  survived  in  the  persons  of 
some  thousand  scattered  and  unknown  believers.  They 
were  within  the  membership  of  the  apostate  Church  of 
Israel,  but  they  perpetuated  the  existence  of  the  true 
church  of  God's  people. 

During  the  apostolic  and  primitive  periods,  the  visible 
and  outward  church  was  also  the  true  Church  of  Christ. 
When  that  outward  church  became  so  corrupt  as  to  be 
Anti-Christian,  the  true  church   was  perpetuated  either 


THE   APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION,  47 

by  purer  Christian  communities,  as  the  Waldenses,  or  by 
scattered  fliinilies  and  societies  who  were  members  of  the 
Church  of  Eome  without  being  fatally  involved  in  her 
apostacy. 

It  only  remains  to  add,  on  this  point,  that  there  is  no 
promise  in  the  Scriptures  of  any  "  apostolic  succession," 
except  on  the  petitio  principii  that  Christ  could  only  be 
with  His  disciples  to  the  end  of  the  world  by  means  of 
bishops,  and  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  possession  of 
any  special  grace  by  bishops,  which  makes  them  better 
men  or  better  ministers  of  Christ  than  others,  or  gives 
any  special  efficacj^  to  the  sacraments  they  administer.* 

SEC.    XV.  —  THE    ]\[IXISTEY  OF  ORDERS  —  FIRST   CLASS  — 
ELDERS. 

The  ministry  of  gifts  being  a  special  provision  for  the 
churches  in  the  interval  between  their  foundins:  and  their 
consolidation  as  societies,  was  superseded,  as  soon  as 
practicable,  by  the  ministry  of  orders  —  a  ministry  per- 

*Dr.  Jacobs,  haTin<?  quoted  Hooker  to  the  effect  that  "  in  some  things  every 
presbyter,  in  some  things  only  bishops,  in  some  tilings  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other,  are  the  apostles'  successors,"  observes :  "It  might,  with  equal  truth  and 
force,  be  added,  that  in  some  things  every  Christian  man  is  a  successor  of  the 
apostles.  The  apostles  ordained  presbyters,  and  so  do  bishops;  the  apostles 
preached  Christ,  and  so  do  presbyters ;  the  apostles  believed  in  Jesus,  and  so  do 
all  Christian  men.  But  all  this  Las  really  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  whether 
the  apostles  had  any  successors  in  their  aix)s'lesJnp.  In  all  the  essential  powers 
and  authority  of  the  apostle's  office,  they  had  and  could  have  none  to  succeed 
them,  and  the  question  is  not  fairly  met  and  argued  by  Hooker.  Indeed,  in  spite 
of  the  high  estimation  in  which  Hooker  has  always  been  justly  held,  in  spite  of 
^his  great  and  admirable  qualities,  his  genius,  learning,  eloquence  and  piety,  a 
thoughtful  and  unprejudiced  man  will  hardly  read  through  the  whole  of  his 
Ecclesiastical  Polity  (which  I  suspect  very  few  of  our  modern  Divinity  students 
do),  without  once  and  again  feeling  that  he  is  listening  to  an  advocate  bent  upon 
saying  all  that  can  be  said  on  one  side,  and  not  always  having  the  best  of  the 
argimient,  rather  than  a  fair  investigator  of  the  truth,  and  regretting  that  never 
since  his  time  has  an  authoritative  and  impartial  judge  summed  up  the  case 
betvreen  Hooker  and  his  Puritan  opponents,  and  obtained  a  just  verdict  in  the 
cause."  — Ecclesiastical  I'olity  of  the  Xew  Testament,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Jacobs,  late 
Head  Master  of  Christ's  Hospital,  London  ;  Randolph  &  Co.,  N.  Y.,  p.  26. 


48  THE   MINISTRY  OF   ORDERS. 

inanently  subsisting,  that  is,  in  two  principal  classes 
adapted  to  meet  all  the  ordinal^  wants  of  the  church  — 
one  for  instruction  and  pastoral  care,  the  other  for  fidu- 
ciary and  beneficiary  trusts.  These  ofiices  are  those  of, 
1.  Elders  or  bishops ;    2.  Of  deacons. 

The  office  and  name  of  elder  were  very  familiar  to 
the  Jews  in  their  synagogue  worship.  h\  every  syna- 
gogue there  was  a  body  of  elders,  charged  with  the  care 
of  public  worship  and  discipline.  They  led  the  praj-ers 
of  the  people  according  to  a  prescribed  form,  superin- 
tended the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  and  exhorted,  or 
called  on  others  to  exhort.  Of  these  elders,  the  one  w^ho 
presided  at  an^^  time  w^as  called  the  Ruler  of  the  Syna- 
gogue^ ^^  the  Angel  of  the  Church^'  and  the  Chazan^  over- 
seer, or  bishop.  This  latter  title  was  particularly  given 
him  because  wdien  the  Scriptures  were  read,  he  stood  by 
the  reader,  watching  him  and  carefully  guarding  against 
mistakes. 

Now  the  earliest  converts  were  Jews  by  nation  ;  and 
as  synagogue  congregations  were  quite  small,  it  is  not  at 
all  unlikely  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  members  of  a  syn- 
agogue might,  in  some  cases,  be  converted  at  once. 
There  would  then  be  no  occasion  for  any  change  in  the 
arrangements  for  worship.  Things  would  go  on  as  before. 
The  elders  would  preside  and  conduct  the  service;  but 
the  worship  would  be  Christian  and  not  Jewish.  In  other 
cases,  the  change  would  be  more  gradual,  but,  in  every 
instance,  existing  usages  would  be  preserved  as  far  as 
possible.  This  explains  the  ftxct  that  there  is  nowhere 
any  account  of  the  first  appointment  of  Christian  elders. 
There  is  no  command  to  institute  this  form  of  govern- 
ment. It  is  simply  taken  for  granted.  So  far  as  we  are 
informed,  therefore,  aiid  in  all  probability,  the  ministry 


FIRST   CLASS  —  ELDERS.  49 

of  gifts  (unofficial)  was  confined  entire]}-  to  the  Gentile 
Churches,  in  which  the  ministr}^  had  to  be  originated,  de 
novo^  and  where  there  could  be,  at  first,  no  suitable  per- 
sons to  invest  with  the  eldership.  In  these  churches,  as 
Corinth,  .Thessalonike,  &c.,  the  Spirit  Himself  was  the 
immediate  teacher  and  ruler,  through  the  charismata,  He 
imparted  to  the  disciples  ;  but  at  the  earliest  moment, 
probably,  that  suitable  candidates  could  be  found  for  the 
ministry  of  orders,  the  temporary  provision  of  gifts  was 
withdrawn. 

Of  this  process,  we  find  distinct  intimations  in  the 
Acts  and  letters  of  the  Apostles.  The  earlier  Epistles 
(Gralatians, ,  Corinthians,  Komans,)  contain  no  mention 
whatever  of  any  church  of&cers.  They  are  addressed 
to  '-the  church,"  or  "  the  faithful,"  &c.  The  Epistle  to 
the  Philippians,  one  of  the  very  latest  (A.  D.  62,  Con. 
and  How.),  is  addressed  to  ^^  the  saints,  luith  the  bishops 
and  deacons ; "  and  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus 
(same  year)  give  explicit  directions  as  to  the  constitution 
of  church  government. 

The  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians  indicate  the  transition 
stage.  Spiritual  gifts  were  still  in  exercise  among  them, 
but  apparently  losing  favor  (1  Thess.  :  v,  19,  20),  and,  at 
the  same  time,  the  disciples  are  exhorted  to  "  hiow  them 
that  are  over  them  in  the  Lord,  and  admonish  them^^  implying 
official  authority.  In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  same 
thing  appears.  In  Acts :  xi,  30,  (the  first  instance  in  which 
elders  are^  mentioned)  it  is  in  connection  with  Jeivish 
Churches.  The  disciples  in  Antioch  made  a  contribution 
in  aid  of  the  brethren  in  Judea,  and  sent  it  to  the  elders 
by  the  hands  of  Barnabas  and  Saul.  In  these  churches, 
elders  are  taken  for  granted.  But  in  gathering  churches 
in  Gentile  cities,  we  find  that  the  missionaries  first  in- 


OO  THE   MINISTRY   OF   ORDERS. 

structed  Uavooq  (Acts:  xiv,  21)  —  able  or  competent  per- 
sons—  and  afterwards  ordained  them  elders,  in  every  cit}'. 
They  transplanted  into  the  Gentile  Churches,  the  same 
arrangements  which  spontaneously  grew  up  in  the  Jew- 
ish Churches,  so  that  the  church  constitution  was  uniform 
everywhere.  No  other  officers  were  known  save  elders 
and  deacons ;  only  a  difference  of  title  seems,  to"  some 
extent,  to  have  prevailed.  ^^Elders  "  was  a  word  of  Jew- 
ish orio^in.  In  the  Gentile  Church,  the  same  office  was 
described  by  a  term  more  familiar  to  them,  "  episcopos  " 
(bishop.)  But  the  two  titles  are  used  by  the  Apostle 
Paul  interchangeably.  Thus  (Acts :  XX,  17,  28),  he  called 
the  elders  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  and  said,  take  heed 
to  the  flock  of  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  made  you  bish- 
ops. Titus  :  I,  5,  7 ;  "  That  thou  should'st  ordain  elders 
in  every  city,  if  anj^  be  blameless,"  &c.,  "  for  a  bishop  must 
be  blameless,"  &c. 

The  qualifications  and  duties  of  the  eldership  are  indi- 
cated in  these  passages  and  throughout  the  pastoral  epis- 
tles. They  must  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  church, 
and,  therefore,  be  men  of  good  repute,  blameless  in  their 
personal  and  family  relations,  studious,  diligent,  sound 
in  doctrine  as  in  life,  not  novices  ov  new  converts,  nordis- 
])0sed  to  lord  it  over  God's  heritage.  They  were  to 
preach  the  Word  diligently,  both  in  public  and  private ; 
to  watch  over  the  flock,  instructing  them  in  all  the  duties 
of  the  Christian  life ;  to  exercise  discipline  against  offend- 
ers, and  to  perpetuate  the  ministry  by  committing  their 
office  and  doctrine  to  faithful  men,  who  should  be  able 
to  teach  others  also.  So  fixr  as  preaching,  pastoral  care, 
government  and  ordination  are  concerned,  there  was 
neither  occasion  nor  room  for  any  higher  office  tlian  this 
in  the  churches. 


TWO    ORDERS   IN   THE    MINISTRY.  51 

SEC.  XVL  —  ONLY   TWO   ORDERS  IN   THE   MINISTRY. 

It  is  claimed  in  prelatical  churches,  that  the  ministry 
exists,  by  Christ's  appointment,  in  three  orders  —  bishops, 
priests  and  deacons  —  and  that  the  type  and  source  of 
the  first  is  to  be  found  in  the  apostolic  office.  It  is 
admitted  that,  in  New  Testament  usage,  the  name  of 
bishop  is  given  to  the  second  order ;  but  it  is  claimed,  as 
already  noticed,  that  the  apostleship  was  to  be  permanent 
in  the  church,  that  successors  of  the  apostles  were  actu- 
ally chosen,  and  that  very  early  the  name  of  bishop  was 
reserved  exclusively  for  these,  while  the  title  of  presbyter 
or  priest  was  given  to  the  second  order.    To  this,  we  reply : 

1.  The  apostles  ordained  elders  in  every  church,  and 
no  higher  class  of  officers.  Acts:  XIV,  23;  "And  when 
they  had  ordained  them  elders,"  &c. 

2.  Bishops  or  elders,  and  deacons  are  the  only  church 
officers  mentioned  in  the  Epistles.     (See  Phil.  :  I,  1.) 

o.  The  apostles  committed  to  the  elders  the  entire  spir- 
itual oversight  of  the  flocks,  including  instruction,  gov- 
ernment and  discipline.     (Acts:  xx,  28-31.) 

4.  The  apostles  themselves,  so  far  as  concerned  their 
gjxide  in  the  ministry,  were  only  elders.  1  Peter  :  Y,  1 ; 
"  The  elders  which  are  among  you,  I  exhort,  who  also 
am  an  elder.'' 

5.  Timothy,  Titus  and  others,  who  are  claimed  to  have 
been  bishops  and  successors  of  the  apostles,  were  merely 
elders^  commissioned  to  act  as  evangelists,  or  traveling 
assistants  to  the  apostles.  They  were  sent  from  place  to 
place,  as  the  exigencies  of  the  churches  required,  or  left 
behind  to  perfect  their  organization,  while  Paul  proceeded 
on  his  missionary  progress.  (1  Tim.  :  I,  3-7  ;  2  Tim. : 
IV,  9,  11,  21  ;  Titus:  i,  o.) 


52  TWO    ORDERS    IX    THE    MINISTRY. 

6.  The  qualifications  required  both  in  elders  and  dea- 
cons are  carefully  laid  down  in  the  pastoral  epistles,  but 
none  for  an}-  liigher  grade.  If  bishops  were  an  office  in 
the  church  superior  to  elders,  more  essential  and  more 
responsible,  it  is  incredible  Paul  should  have  said  noth- 
ing as  to  the  qualifications  for  this  office,  when  he  thought 
it  necessary  to  give  precise  instructions  as  to  the  kind  of 
men  to  be  chosen  deacons.  In  the  only  instance  in  which 
it  is  even  pretended  we  have  any  account  of  a  successor 
of  the  apostles  being  chosen,  Peter  states,  as  an  indispens- 
able qualification,  that  he  must  have  seen  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

7.  The  only  Scripture  evidence  alleged  for  the  perpet 
nation  of  the  apostolic  office  in  the  persons  of  bishops  is 
found  in  the  case  of  Matthias  and  of  Timothy  (already 
considered),  and  in  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches.  It 
is  claimed,  e.  g.,  that  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Ephesus 
(Rev.  :  II,  1-8)  evidently  possessed  powers  superior  to 
those  of  the  elders  of  Ephesus  (Acts:  XX,  28),  showing 
that  he  was  the  bishop  of  the  church,  while  the  others 
w^ere  only  presbyters. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  affirm  that  a  comparison  of  these 
passages  shows  there  was  no  essential  distinction  between 
the  powers  and  duties  of  the  tw^o.  The  "  angels "  are 
now^here  called  either  "  apostles  "  or  "  bishops,"  and  no 
evidence  appears  showing  that  the  angel  of  the  church 
of  Ephesus  w^as  anything  different,  officially,  from  the 
angel  of  the  Jewish  synagogue,  viz.,  the  superintendent 
of  public  w^orship  in  that  church  —  in  other  words,  the 
pastor,  or,  in  the  Scripture  sense,  bishop."^' 

*  Note.  — All  this  was  thoroiighlj^  gone  over  by  Smectymnus  against  Bishop 
Hall,  and  nothing  of  any  weight  has  been  added  to  the  controversy,  on  either 
side,  since.  — Hunt  i,  174. 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    PASTORATE.  6S 

SEC.  XVII.  —  FIRST  STAGE  IN  THE  ]\IINISTRY  OF  ORDERS  — 
ORIGIN  OF  THE  PASTORATE. 

It  has  been  already  observed  that  the  "  ministry  of 
gifts "  was  superseded,  as  soon  as  practicable,  by  the 
appointment  of  suitable  persons  to  the  work  of  teaching 
and  ruling  in  each  congregation.  A  permanent  ministry 
was  provided,  who,  not  as  the  mere  organs  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  but  as  suitably  instructed  and  ordained  officers, 
should  be  charged  with  the  instruction  and  pastoral  care 
of  the  flock.  This  consisted  of  a  number  of  elders^  pro- 
bably chosen  by  the  people,  and  set  apart  by  some  apostle 
or  evangelist.  These  elders  were  charged,  in  common, 
with  -the  entire  spiritual  interests  of  the  flock.  They  all 
might  preach  and  administer  ordinances,  no  one  of  them 
being  distinguished  from  the  others  as  pastor.  But  this 
arrangement  soon  led  to  difficulties  and  suggested  a  fur- 
ther step  in  organization.  St.  Jerome,  in  commenting  on 
Titus  :  I,  0,  7,  speaks  of  this  as  follows  :  "  Idem  est  ergo 
presbyter  qui  et  episcopus ;  et  antequam  diaholi  instinctu 
studia  in  religione  fierent,  et  diceretur  in  populis  ego  snni 
Pauli,  ego  Apollo,  ego  autem  Cephce,  coimnuni  Preshytero- 
rum  concilio  ecclesice  guhernabantar.  Postquam  vero  units- 
quisque  eos  quos  haptizaverat  suos  putahat  esse,  non  Christi 
discipulos,  in  toto  orhe  decretum  est,  ut  iintLs  de  preshyteris 
electus,  superponentur  coeteris,  ad  quern  omnis  eccleslm  cura 
pertineret,  et  schismatum  semina  tollerentury 

The  reference  is  plain  to  the  condition  of  things  in  the 
apostolic  church.  The  converts  gathered  themselves  in 
groups,  each  around  the  particular  elder  who  had  bap- 
tized them,  and  were  inclined  to  magnify  him,  and  depre- 
ciate the  others.  The  remedy  was  simple,  and  it  was 
wisely  and  timely  applied.  It  was  to  select  from  the 
body  of  the  elders  in  each  church  one  who  was  bestqual- 


64  THE    MINISTRY    OF   ORDERS. 

ified,  and  set  him  over  the  others,  with  the  exclusive 
right  of  receiving  new  members  by  baptism,  and  taking 
the  oversight  of  the  flock  —  that  is,  he  became  the  pas- 
tor, or,  as  he  came  to  be  called  distinctively,  the  "  bishop.'' 
The  other  elders  limited  themselves  to  the  work  of 
exhortation  and  government,  and  were  called  distinct- 
ively "  presbuteroi."  A  little  later,  it  came  also  to  be 
the  exclusive  right  of  the  bishop  to  take  p.nrt  in  the  ordi- 
nation of  other  bishops  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  eld- 
ers had  still  the  right  of  administering  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Before  the  close  of  the  Apostolic  Period  then,  probably, 
the  ministry  of  gifts  had  entirely  passed  away,  and  each 
church  was  provided  with  a  bod}-  of  elders,  of  whom  one 
w^as  the  episcopos  or  pastor. 

SEC.     XVIII. — SECOND    STAGE    IX    THE     MINISTRY    OF 
ORDERS  —  ORIGIN   OF   THE    EPISCOPATE. 

It  has  been  already  shown  that,  according  to  the  apos- 
tolic and  primitive  idea,  all  the  believers  in  a  place  com- 
posed the  church  of  that  place,  and  this  without  regard  to 
the  size  of  the  place  or  the  number  of  believers.  At 
first,  the  church  and  the  congregation  in  each  city  were  the 
same  ;  but,  with  the  increase  of  believers,  it  soon  became 
necessary,  especially  in  large  towns,  to  distribute  the 
churchy  for  the  purposes  of  ordinary  worship,  into  differ- 
ent congregations.  Tliis  introduced  a  new  element  into 
the  question.  The  disciples  in  Home,  e.  g.,  all  composed 
the  one  cliurcli  of  Konie  For  one  church  there  needed  but 
one  bishop.  This  came  very  early  to  be  the  fixed  under- 
standing: every  church  must  have  a  bishop,  and  no 
church  could  have  more  than  one  bishop.  But  each  dis- 
tinct congregation  needed  its  own  teacher  and  pastor. 
This  need  was  met  hy  ^\\])^\\\\.\\\g  the  i^reshyters  ii^^^2>UyvSj 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    EPISCOPATE.  OO 

in  succession,  over  new  congregations,  as  they  arose.  As 
soon  as  it  came  about,  therefore,  that  there  were  two  or 
ten  distinct  congregations  in  the  one  church  of  Eome, 
there  was,  of  necessity,  a  system  of  Episcopacy.  Each 
separate  society  was  grouped  around  its  presbyter,  and 
all  the  societies,  with  their  presbyters,  were  grouped 
around  the  one  bishop.  These  presbyters  were  merely 
local  teachers  or  pastors.  To  the  bishop  it  was  reserved 
to  baptize  all  converts,  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper 
(personally,  or  by  the  hands  of  a  presbyter  acting  in  his 
name),  to  exercise  discipline  and  to  perpetuate  the  minis- 
try by  ordination. 

Of  the  process  by  which  this  development  was  brought 
about,  it  is  true  we  have  no  contemporaneous  descrip- 
tion. The  period  of  150  years  following  the  death  of 
the  Apostle  Paul  is  one  of  the  obscurest  in  all  church 
history.  Almost  all  reliable  monuments  of  it  have  per- 
ished. After  the  close  of  the  inspired  canon,  we  have 
only  the  crude  and  corrupted  writings  of  the  apostolic 
fathers  and  fragments  of  early  apologies.  Nothing 
remains  illustrating  the  church  constitution  in  this  period, 
except  the  Ignatian  epistles.  In  150  years  great  changes 
in  society  may  take  place ;  and  in  times  of  simplicity 
and  confidence  within  the  church,  and  of  disturbance  and 
persecution  loithout^  might  take  place  unobserved  or  unre- 
corded. 

The  result  was  that  Episcopacy  gradually  and  natu- 
rally grew  up  out  of  these  two  principles.  1.  That  all 
the  Christians  in  a  city  constitute  the  church  in  that  city. 
2.  That  every  church  must  have  one  bishop,  and  but 
one.  We  find  the  system  well  established  as  early  as 
A.  D.  250,  in  the  great  cities  of  Eome,  Carthage  and 
Alexandria,  where  we  know  the  one  church   was  distrib- 


OG  MINISTHV    OF    UKJ>EKS. 

uted  into  numerous  oongregations,  and  we  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  it,  at  that  time,  anywhere  else.  Its  extension 
into  the  rural  districts  was  a  work  of  time,  and  went  on 
through  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  The  final  result 
was,  that  the  system  of  the  capital  was  extended  so  as  to 
embrace  the  adjacent  churches.  The  country  bishops 
(chor-bishops) — i.  e.,  the  pastors  of  congregations,  who 
still  retained  the  name  and  prerogatives  of  bishops,  were 
suppressed,  and  presbyters,  subject  to  the  city  bishop,  or 
"metropolitan,"  intruded  in  their  room.  Ecclesiastical 
geography  shows  that,  in  the  fifth  century,  there  were 
great  numbers  of  bishops  whose  diocese  was  only  a  small 
town  or  village ;  and  early  church  canons  even  provide 
for  the  election  of  a  bishop  having  full  Episcopal  po'wers, 
whenever  twelve  families  would  unite  to  sustain  public 
worship.^^ 

SEC.    XIX. — MINISTKY    OF    ORDERS —SECOND   CLASS — 
DEACONS. 

The  existence  in  the  temple  service  of  the  Levites  and 
nethinims  might  naturally  suggest  the  appointment  of  a 
class  of  officials,  in  the  church,  who,  though  not  strictly 
"  hewers  of  wood,''  &c.,  should  devote  themselves  to  the 
secular  concerns  of  the  flock.  In  the  synagogue,  also, 
there  were  the  parnasim,  whose  business  was  to  distribute 
alms,  &c.  A  demand  for  such  a  class  would  arise  almost 
at  once,  in  the  fact  of  poor,  widowed  and  infirm  disciples, 
whose  wants  appealed  to  the  Christian  spirit  of  sympathy 
and  brotherhood.     It  is  y)robaV)le,  therefore,  from  the  very 

•  *  We  equally  hold  that  every  church  must  have  a  bishop  ;  but  this  church,  with 
UP,  is  the  local  congregation  of  believers,  of  which  there  may  be  many  in  a  city, 
and,  therefore,  many  bishoi)s.  If  there  is  a  spot  anywhere  where  there  is  but  a 
single  Christian  society,  with  its  pastor,  tliere  is  an  Episcopacy  precisely  the 
same  as  that  of  the  most  primitive  church. 


SECOND   CLASS — L>EACOXS.  0< 

fbijiidiug  of  tlie  cliiircli  in  Jcrasalem,  there  was  an  order 
of  ministers  {d:ayjr^<rjz)  on  whom  that  charge  was  devolved. 
These  would  also  as  naturally  be  Hebrews  or  home  Jews. 
It  has  been  common  to  find  the  first  appointment  of 
deacons  in  the  transaction  recorded  Acts  :  vi,  i  ;  but  the 
circumstances  indicate  that  this  was  rather  an  increase  of 
a  body  already  existing.  It  was  the  Hellenists  who 
complained  of  being  neglected,  and  tlie  seven  chosen 
appear  from  their  names  to  have  been  all  Hellenists, 
except  Parmenas  who  was  a  Gentile  proselyte.  It  may, 
therefore,  seem  probable  that  there  was  already  in  the 
church  in  Jerusalem  a  body  of  seven  Hebrew  deacons ; 
seven  others  were  added  —  six  for  the  Hellenist  con- 
verts, and  one  for  the  much  smaller  body  of  Gentile  con- 
verts. These  are  not,  indeed,  called  deacons ;  but  the 
nature  of  their  functions  shows  that  they  filled  the 
same  office  to  w^hicli  the  Apostle  Paul  applies  that  name. 
His  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  is  addressed  to  the  saints, 
with  the  bishops  and  deacons ;  and  in  1  Tim.  :  iii,  he 
lays  down  particularly  the  qualifications  for  the  deacon- 
ship.  ,  This  list  and  the  account  in  Acts  :  vi,  show^  plainly 
that  the  deacons  were  not  a  'preaching  order.  They  must 
be  '•'  men  of  honest  report,  full  of  the  Holj^  Ghost  autl  of 
wisdom."  (Acts  :  yi,  3).  Being  concerned  with  pecun- 
iary trusts,  it  was  necessary  they  should  be  men  of  repu- 
tation for  honesty  ;  having  the  difficult  and  delicate  task 
of  distributino-  the  church  funds  amonu;-  various  and 
somewhat  jealous  claimants,  they  must  be  men  of  wis- 
dom ;  ^  and  having  a  laborious  and  self-sacrificing  work 
to  perform,  they  must  be  men  whose  zeal  and  devotion 
would  sustain   them  in  it — '"full  of  the  JIolij    GJiost''^ 

*  A  member  of  the  commit  toe  emploj'ed  to  distribute  aid  among  the  siiflerers 
after  the  great  fire  in  Pittsburg  (1875  ?)  observed,  that  he  had  never  been  engaged 
in  so  difficult,  laborious  and  unthankful  a  work. 


58  ]\1TNISTKY    OF    OKDKRS. 

But  not  a  word  is  said  of  any  gift  specially  required  in 
the  work  of  preaching  tlie  Gospel.  So,  in  1  Tim. :  iir, 
Paul  requires  that  deacons  should  have  prudence,  gravity, 
exemi'lary  character  and  soundness  in  the  faith  —  such 
qualities  as  a  Christian  man  of  business,  charged  with 
pecuniar}"  trusts,  ought  to  have  —  but  nothing  suggesting 
the  idea  of  the  deaconship  being  a  spiritual  or  didactic 
office.  On  the  other  hand,  this  is  implied  in  every  men- 
tion of  the  eldership.  They  w'ere  to  feed  the  flock  of 
God  (Acts  :  xx,  28)  ;  to  be  "  apt  to  teach  "  (1  Tim.  :  iii^ 
2)  ;  to  ''be  able,  by  sound  doctrine,  both  to  exhort  and 
to  convince  the  gainsayers  (Titus:  I,  9). 

It  was  expressly  that  they  might  serve  tables,  and  thus 
leave  the  apostles  free  for  the  work  of  pi-eaching  the  Gos- 
pel, that  the  seven  w^ere  appointed. 

The  fact  that  in  the  Epistle  to  Titus  no  mention  is 
made  of  deacons  may  suggest  the  doubt  whether  this 
office  belongs  essentially  to  the  constitution  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  or  whether,  as  the  history  in  Acts:  VI,  would 
seem  to  imply,  it  is  a  discretionary^  arrangement,  depend- 
ing on  the  exigencies  of  each  particular  church.  But 
this  is  at  least  plain,  that  wherever  there  is  a  call  for  dea- 
cons, it  is  w^ith  a  view  to  the  care  of  the  poor  and  other 
appropriate  temporalities. 

In  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  deaconship  is  a  preach- 
ing office,  and  constitutes  the  third  grade  in  their  "  three- 
fold winistry  "  In  support  of  this,  it  is  said,  that  some 
of  the  seven  deacons  preached,  as  Stephen  and  Philip. 
But  of  Stephen  it  is  only  related  that  he  disputed  with 
the  Jews  (Acts :  vi,  8).  It  was  only  such  Christian 
argument  and  effort  as  was  the  duty  of  all  believers. 
All  the  disciples  preached  in  this  sense.  Acts:  viii,  4  ; 
"Therefore,  they  that  were  scattered  abroad"  —  i.  e.,  the 


SECOND    CLASS — DEACONS.  59 

whole  cliurcli  of  Jerusalem  —  '"  went  everywhere,  preach- 
ing the   Woniy 

As  for  Philip,  who  did  preach  and  baptize  (Acts:  Yiii, 
5,  08),  we  are  expressly  informed  that  he  was  an  evange- 
list (Acts :  XXI,  8j,  having,  perhaps,  been  raised  to  this 
office  from  his  possessing  greater  gifts  for  usefulness  than 
were  required  in  the  deaconship. 

Notwithstanding  the  claim  above  referred  to,  the  office 
of  deacon,  in  the  Anglican  and  Episcopal  Churches,  is 
of  no  further  importance  than  "as  it  serves  as  a  kind  of 
probation  for  the  priesthood.  The  Episcopal  deacon  is 
merely  a  licentiate,  who  is  permitted  to  preach  and  bap- 
tize. All  graduates  of  Episcopal  Seijiinaries  are  imme- 
diately ordained  deacons,  and  none  remain  longer  in  the 
office  than  until  they  are  called  to  some  congregation.'^'^ 
Prof  Jacobs  observes,  p.  60 :  "  The  deacon  seldom 
retains  his  office  for  more  than  one  3'ear,  regarding  it  as 
a  mere  stepping-stone  to  the  higher  order ;  and  thus  the 
deaconate  is  stripped  of  its  distinctive  character  and  ren- 
dered almost  useless  in  our  church."  In  the  Episcopal 
"  Church  Congress  "  (New  York,  Oct.  7, 1874),  Eev.  E.  C. 
Porter  observed,  that  "  some  other  Protestant  Churches 
have  retained  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name,  the  deaconate^ 
of  which  loe  have  the  name^  but  hardly  anything  more." 

SEC.    XX.  — OFFICE    OF   RULING    ELDER  —  ITS   WARRANT. 

Since  the  time  of  John  Calvin,  the  doctrine  has  pre- 
vailed in  all  Presbyterian  Churches,  that  while  there  are 
only  two  orders  in  the  ministry,  viz.,  elders  and  deacons, 
the  eldership  exists  in  two  forms,  that  of  the  teaching  and 
that  of  the  riding  elder.     The  Scripture  evidence  in  sup- 

*The  ruloric,  at  the  end  of  the  oflace  for  "the  ordering  of  deacons,"  directs, 
that  "  the  deacon  must  continue  in  that  office  for  the  space  of  a  whole  year,  except, 
for  reasonable  causes,  it  shall  otherwise  seem  good  unto  the  bishop." 


00  OFFICE   OF   Kl'LlNG    ELDEK. 

port  of  tliis  is  found  in  the  fact  of  a  plurality  of  elders 
in  each  church,  and  the  distinction  tlie  apostle  secrns  to 
draw  bet^veen  the  elders  who  rakd  well  and  tiie  elders  who 
labored  in  ivord  and  doctrine.     (1  ^Fim.  :  V,  17.) 

That  some  such  distinction  must  have  existed  appears 
from  what  has  already  been  shown  of  the  development 
of  the  ministry  of  orders.  As  soon  as  one  of  the  elders 
in  each  church  became  the  episcopos  or  teaching  elder, 
and  had  the  exclusive  right  of  baptizing  and  presiding 
over  the  church,  the  others  became,  distinctively,  ruling 
elders,  being  confined  to  acting  with  and  under  him  in 
the  pastoral  care  of  the  flock.  But  this  was  only  a  tran- 
sient stage  in  the  growth  of  the  church  constitution,  since 
each  elder  soon  became  the  pastor  of  a  separate  flock.  _ 

Without  claiming  any  divine  right,  or  express  Scrip- 
ture warrant,  for  a  ruling  eldership,  sufficient  justifica- 
tion for  it  is  found  in  the  importance  (recognized  by  all 
Protestant  bodies)  of  having  in  each  church  a  certain 
number  of  judicious  and  responsible  men  to  advise  with 
the  pastor  in  regard  to  all  the  interests  of  the  flock. 
Whether  they  are  called  a  consistory,  or  standing  com- 
mittee, or  vestry,  or  class  leaders,  or  elders,  is  immaterial. 
Their  object  and  duties  are  in  all  cases  essentially  the  same. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  retained  the  Scripture 
title  of  ''elders.''  The  5orm  of  Government,  chap,  v, 
says :  "  Ruling  elders  are  properly  the  representatives 
of  the  people,  chosen  by  them  for  the  purpose  of  exer- 
cising government  and  discipline  in  conjunction  with  the 
pastor.  This  office  has  been  understood  by  a  great  por- 
tion of  the  Protestant  '  Peformed  '  Churches  to  be-  desig- 
nated in  the  Scriptures,  by  the  title  of  '  governments. 


'J 


♦But  note  that  ''governments"  were  only  a  "  charism,"  not  part  of  the  min- 
istry of  orders. 


ITS    WARKAXT.  61 

(1  Cor.  :  XII,  28),  and  of  those  luiio  rule  laell,  but  do  not 
labor  in  word  and  doctrine."     (1  Tim.  :   V,   17.) 

Ruling  elders  are  spiritual  officers  of  the  church, 
belonging  to  the  same  order  with  teaching  elders  and  of 
equal  authority,  but  ordained  especial!}^  to  the  work  of 
ruling  and  not  teaching.  The  teaching  elder  is  also  a 
ruling  elder,  but  not  vice  versa,  since  he  takes  part  in  all 
acts  of  government,  discipline,  &c.,  while  the  ruling  elder 
does  not  officially  teach.  Ruling  elders  are  declared  to 
be  the  "representatives  of  the  people."  But  since, 
according  to  the  constitution  and  the  heretofore  prevail- 
ing usage  in  the  church,  they  are  chosen: for  lifo^  their 
representative  character  is  imperfect.  The  theory  of  a 
representative  system  requires  that  the  power  delegated 
to  rulers  shall  return  often  enough  to  the  people  to  ena- 
ble them  to  give  a  fair  expression  of  their  own  sentiments. 
Representatives  chosen  for  life  are  as  inconsistent  with 
this  theory  in  the  church,  as  they  would  be  in  the  state. 
But  this  usage  does  not  belong  to  the  essence,  nor  to 
the  early  history  of  Presbyterianism.  •  The  Church  of 
Geneva,  organized  by  Calvin  himself,  had  a  changeable  or 
"  rotary  "  eldership.  The  Churches  of  France  and  Hol- 
land adopted  the  same  rule,  and  also  the  Scottish  Kirk, 
as  organized  by  John  Knox.  This  is  also  the  practice  of 
the  "  Reformed  "  (Dutch)  Church  in  this  country  ;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  (Form 
of  Gov.  :  XIII,  6,  7),  had  come  to  prevail  extensively  in 
our  churches.  By  the  General  Assembly  of  1875,  the 
changeable  eldership  was  expressly  authorized,  but  with 
the  unfortunate  incumbrance  of  retaining  the  indelible 
character  of  ordination. 


62  HISTORICAL   JUSTIFICATION 

SEC.  XXL  —HISTORICAL   JUSTIFICATION   OF    EPISCOPACY. 

It  has  been  shown  already  that  Episcopacy  sprung  up 
in  post-apostolic  times,  through  the  operation  of  two 
principles ;  1.  The  Scriptural  principle,  that  all  the 
believers  in  a  place  constitute  the  church  in  that  place'; 
2.  The  imscriptural  rule,  that  one  church  can  have  only 
one  bishop  ;  whereas,  since  the  Scriptural  bishop  was 
only  the  pastor  of  a  single  congregation,  there  should 
have  been  as  many  bishops  in  a  city  as  there  were  con- 
gregations. So  long  as  the  disciples  in  Eome  composed 
but  one  congregation,  they  needed  but  one  bishop. 
When  it  became  necessary  to  divide  the  church  into  two 
congregations,  the  second  should  also  have  had  a  bishop 
as  its  pastor  —  the  independent  and  equal  fellow  laborer 
of  the  first  bishop.  There  should  then  have  been  as 
many  bishops  in  a  city  as  there  were  congregations,  just 
as  now  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  where  every  pastor 
is  an  independent  "  bishop."  This  was  prevented  by  the 
silent  but  rapid  growing  up  of  the  idea  that  there  could 
be  but  one  bishop  to  a  city  —  that  is,  to  a  church  —  be 
the  same  larger  or  smaller.  Under  this  principle,  as 
already  explained,  Episcopacy  naturally  and  spontane- 
ously came  to  exist,  as  soon  as  the  church  in  any  place 
was  divided  into  two  or  more  cono-resfations. 

This  at  once  introduced  a  hierarchy,  with  all  its  subse- 
quent evils.  But  in  the  primitive  church,  and  during  the 
early  infancy  and  struggles  of  Christianity,  it  may  be 
admitted  to  have  been  a  salutary,  as  it  was  a  necessary 
development.  Close  uniti/  among  the  feeble  and  perse- 
cuted disciples  was  then  a  matter  of  vital  necessity. 
Having  no  precedents,  constitution,  nor  creeds,  outside 
the  Scriptures  — •  the  canon  of  Scripture  itself,  indeed, 
being   not  j^et  settled  —  they    might  be  in    danger   of 


OF    EPISCOPACY.  63 

diverging  widely  from  each  other  at  the  very  outset.  To 
uphold  the  faith  in  its  integrity,  to  enforce  discipline,  to 
maintain  harmony  of  rites  and  worship,  it  was  necessary 
that  the  church  should  be  strictly  one.  The  disciples,  at 
that  time,  having  no  competency  for  confederation,  self- 
government,  or  Presbyterianism,  unity  was  best  secured 
by  regarding  all  the  Christians  in  a  place  as  making  up 
the  church  in  that  place,  and,  no  matter  into  how  manv 
congregations  divided,  all  subject  to  one  bishop.  This 
would  go  far  to  prevent  those  dangerous  rivalries  and 
schisms,  which  the  existence  of  a  number  of  independent 
bishops  in  a  place  might  have  occasioned,  and,  in  fact, 
did  prevent  them,  until  the  church  had  well  nigh  passed 
through  the  critical  period  of  her  early  struggles.  Then, 
the  exaggeration  of  this  simple  Episcopacy  into  a  domin- 
eering hierarchy  led  to  those  attempts  at  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  presbyters,  which  have  been  already 
noticed  as  the  schisms  at  Carthage  and  at  Rome.  An 
Episcopacy  which  had  recognized  itself  as  only  an 
arrangement  of  expediency,  for  the  maintenance  of  unity 
in  the  churches,  and  had  forborne  all  pretensions  to  any 
exclusive  divine  right  to  ordain  and  govern,  might  have 
continued  to  be  a  wise  and  safe  constitution. 

SEC.  XXII.  —  SPHERE    OF   WOMAN"   IN   THE   APOSTOLIC 
CHUECH. 

As  much  as  woman  was  raised  by  the  Hebrew  laws 
and  customs  above  her  place  in  heathen  societ}^,  so  much 
was  the  Christian  woman  elevated  above  the  Jewess. 
Although  there  were  a  few  cases  of  Jewish  women  occu- 
pying public  positions,  as  Deborah,  Huldah,  &c.,  jei  no 
woman  was  permitted  to  take  any  part  in  the  temple  or 
the  synagogue  service.     But  in  the  birth  and  in  all  the 


1)4  SPIIKKE    OF    WO:\TAN 

])ahlic  mini.stry  of  Jesus,  distinguislied  honor  was  put  on 
the  female  sex  ;  and  in  the  rirst  meeting  of  Christ's  disci- 
ples after  His  ascension  (Acts  :  I,  14).  women  were  pres- 
ent, as  well  as  men.  In  the  Acts  mention  is,  from  time 
to  time,  made  of  female  disciples,  as  Dorcas  and  Rhoda ; 
and  the  first  convert  made  in  Europe  was  a  woman 
(Lydia.     Act^=  :  XVI,  14). 

Female  disciples  shared  in  the  "  ministry  of  gifts,"  as 
appears  from  the  case  of  Philip's  daughters  (Acts:  xxi, 
9j,  and  the  women  in  the  Corinthian  Church,  who  prayed 
and  prophesied  (1  Cor.  :  XI,  5).  When  the  ministry  of 
gifts  gave  place  to  the  ministry  of  orders,  room  was  also 
found  for  the  activities  of  ^voman.  The  customs  of  the 
Levant  not  allowing  free  social  intercourse  between  the 
sexes,  it  was  necessary  to  provide  a  class  of  female  church 
ofhcers,  wdio  could  visit,  without  restraint,  in  the  liornes 
of  the  disciples,  for  the  purposes  of  instruction,  comfort 
and  discipline.  Intimations  of  such  a  class  are  found  in 
the  apostolic  writings.  Phebe  was  a  servant  {dtaxw^o^J)  of 
the  church  in  Cenchrea  (Rom.  :  xvi,  1).  Priscilla  wjis  a 
"  helper  "  of  Paul  (Rom. :  xvi,  8).  The  "  elder  women  " 
are  spoken  of  in  such  a  way  (Titus :  ii,  3)  as  to  suggest 
that  they  v^eve  female  elders  {-petTiSuTtdsc).  In  1  Tim. :  ill, 
this  class  of  disciples  is  described  as  ^^  widows.''  For 
those  of  them  who  were  entirely  destitute  ("widows  in- 
deed "),  provision  was  made  from  the  church  fond,  which 
was  supplied  by  weekly  or  monthly  contributions.  Their 
names  were  enrolled  on  a  list  (1  Tim.  :  V,  9) ;  they 
assumed  some  pledge  or  vow  to  remain  single  (1  Tim.  : 
V,  12),  and  were  set  apart  to  Christian  labors,  as  sisters 
of  mercy,  or  deaconesses  (1  Tim. :  V,  10).  At  first,  no 
limit  was  set  to  the  age  of  these  deaconesses.  Some 
vounix  women  assumed  the  vo\\t;   but  instances  occurred 


IN    THE    APOSTOLIC    CHURCH.  65 

in  which  they  proved  false  to  it,  exhibited  levity  of  con- 
duct, and  incurred  the  censure  of  the  churchy  for  having 
"cast  off  their  first fliith  (1  Tim.  :  y,  12)  —  i.  e..  violated 
their  initiatory  vow.  Another  inconvenience  was,  that 
these  young  widows,  in  gadding  about  {-spt  epyun^^ai)  the 
houses  of  their  district,  became  mere  tattlers  and  gossips, 
"speaking  things  which  they  ought  not." 

These  abuses  seem  to  have  led  the  apostle  to  direct 
that  no  widow  should  subsequently  be  taken  on  the  list 
under  sixty  years  of  age,  and  wd:io  was  not  already  prac- 
ticed in  works  of  Christian  charity.  The  younger  wid- 
ows he  advises  to  marry,  and  devote  themselves  to  rais- 
ing up  families,  and  other  domestic  employments  (1  Tim. : 
V,  14).  Wido^vvs  who  were  dependent  on  any  believer, 
whether  man  or  woman,  were  to  be  cared  for  by  them, 
so  that  the  church  should  not  be  burdened.  ( Yide  Con. 
and  How.  on  1  Tim.  :    v,  16.) 

Note  Respecting  Widows.  —  It  may  excite  surprise 
that  loidows  seem  to  ha\ie  been  so  numerous  in  the  apos- 
tolic churches.  This  is  probably  explained  by  tlie  pre- 
vailing customs  in  regard  to  divorce.  Although  iMlycj- 
amy  (strictly  so  called)  did  not  prevail  in  the  Eoman 
Empire,  yet  the  liberty  of  divorce  was  such,  tliat  many 
men  had  successively  married  and  repudiated  two,  or 
even  six  or  more  wives.  These  divorced  wives  were  the 
"widows"  of  living  husbands  {yjipa.'. — deserted  and 
afflicted  persons),  and  had  a  just  claim  upon  them  for 
support;  and  when  such  a  polygamist  was  converted, 
the  church  expected  him  to  provide  for  them.  (1  Tim.  : 
V,  16.)  Under  the  Christian  law,  he  could  only  live 
with  one  as  his  wife;  the  rest  w^ere  his  "wudows,"  until, 
as  advised  by  the  apostle,  they  contracted  a  new^  and  law- 
ful marriage.     Were  a  Mormon  "  elder  "  converted,  there 


66  SPHERE   OF   woman; 

would  be  a  number  of  such  "  widows  ''  in  his  family,  oil 
of  whom  would  have  a  moral  claim  upon  him  for  sup- 
port, while  only  one  could  be  his  wife.  The  "  ividoios 
indeecV  (1  Tim.  :  Y,  3)  may  be  such  as  had  actually  lost 
their  husbands  by  death,  and  had  no  one  to  look  to  for 
support.  These  were  to  be  "  honored  "  —  i.  e.,  provided 
with  a  maintenance  by  being  taken  on  the  church  list, 
and  employed  in  charitable  w^orks,  as  deaconesses.  It 
was  required  that  the}^  should  have  been  each  "  the  wnfe 
of  one  man  "  (1  Tim. :  v,  9)  —  i.  e.,  not  women  who  had 
been  recklessly  divorced  and  then  unlawfully  married 
again.  In  the  same  manner,  it  was  required  (1  Tim.  :  ill, 
2)  that  "  a  bishop  should  be  the  husband  of  one  wife  "  — 
that  is,  one  who  had  not  been  guilty  of  unlawful  divorces, 
which  left  more  than  one  woman  with  moral  claims  upon 
him  as  her  husband.  A  bishop  must,  in  this  respect,  he 
blameless.     (See  Con.  and  How.,  ii,  452,  note.) 

The  activities  of  the  "  church  widows "  w^ere  to  be 
exclusively  private  or  domestic.  .  On  the  ground  of  that 
inferiority  implied  in  the  fact  that  woman  was  created 
second  and  sinned  first,  Paul  forbids  that  she  should 
teach  or  usurp  authority  (such  as  teaching  implies)  over 
man.  (1  Tim.  :  li,  12.)  If  it  is  said  that  w^oman  may 
not  teaclt,  indeed,  but  may,  in  public,  exhovi^  relate  expe- 
rience, &c.,  w^e  observe,  that  Paul  further  (1  Cor. :  xiv, 
34)  requires  women  to  keep  absolute  silence  in  the 
churches.  If  it  is  still  said  that  woman  may,  indeed,  be 
bound  to  keep  silence  in  the  public  assemblies,  but  may 
take  part  in  social  religious  worship,  we  reply,  that  the 
"churches"  {ey./lyjffiat)  referred  to  by  Paul  were  such 
small  neighborhood  meetings  as  could  find  place  in  the 
rooms  {dixooq)  of  private  houses.     (See  No.  2  ;  note. )     If 


PRESBYTERIAN   CONSTITUTION.  67 

^ht  not  teach  or  speak  in  these  social  meetings, 
much  less  might  thej  in  large  assemblies. 

SEC.    XXIII.  —  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   PKESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

Presbyterianisrn  is  the  government  of  the  church  by 
teaching  and  ruling  presbyters,  acting  in  courts  of  review 
and  control.  The  lowest  of  these  courts  is  composed  of 
the  teaching  and  ruling  presbyters  of  a  particular  church  ; 
the  next,  the  presbyter}^,  consists  of  the  presbyters  of  a 
number  of  local  churches ;  the  synod  is  composed  of  sev- 
eral presbyteries  ;  the  fourth  and  highest  is  the  general 
assembly,  composed  of  representatives  from  all  the  pres- 
byteries. Each  of  these  courts  has  jurisdiction  over  the 
next  lower.  Presbyterianism  affirms  (Form  of  Grov.,  ch. 
XII,  note),  "  that  the  several  different  congregations  of 
believers,  taken,  collectively,  constitute  one  Church  of 
Christ,  called  emphatically  the  church  ;  that  a  larger  part 
of  the  church,  or  a  representative  of  it,  should  govern  a 
smaller ;  that,  in  like  manner,  a  representative  of  the 
lohole  should  determine  in  regard  to  every  part  —  that  is, 
that  a  viajority  shall  govern^  and,  consequently,  that 
appeals  may  be  carried  from  lower  to  higher  judicatories, 
till  they  be  finally  decided  by  the  collected  wisdom  and 
united  voice  of  the  whole  church." 

This  sj'stem  differs  from  Prelacy,  on  the  one  hand, 
which  devolves  the  government  of  the  church  wholly  on 
bishops,  as  a  grade  in  the  ministry  superior,  hj  divine 
right,  to  presbyters ;  and  from  Independenc}^,  on  the 
other,  which  assigns  the  government  of  the  church 
exclusivelv  to  the  membership  of  each  local  cono-re^i^a- 
tion.  The  former  system  denies  the  parity  of  the  clergy  ; 
the  latter,   the    unitv  of  the  church.      Presbvterianism 


66  PKLiDiiYTEKiAN    CO^'STITL'TIOX. 

alone,  of  all  existing  fonns  of  church  government,  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  representative  character  of  our 
political  S3^stem.  It  is  ecclesiastical  republicanism,  while 
all  other  systems  tend  either  tow^ards  a  despotic  centrali- 
zation, or  a  loose  democracy.  Inasmuch  as  the  Form 
of  Government,  above  quoted,  speaks  of  "the  several 
different  congregations  of  believers  as  making  up  one 
Church  of  Christ,  called  emphatically  the  clmrchJ'  &;c.,  it 
might  be  inferred  that  Presbyterianism  claims  to  be  that 
one  true  church,  and  requires  to  be  exclusively  recog- 
nized as  such.  But  the  ^'■preliminary  principles''  to  the 
Form  of  Grovernment  expressly  recognize  the  right  of 
''  every  other  church,  or  association  of  particular 
churches,"  to  settle  their  form  of  polity  and  terms  of 
comm'iunion  for  themselves,  and  recommends  all  such  to 
exercise  mutual  forbearance  towards  each  other.  The 
Presbvterian  system,  is  no  doubt  set  forth  as  most  in  liar, 
monv  with  the  Scriptures;*  but  no  hint  is  given  of  any 
wish  to  obtrude  it  upon  others,  or  to  deny  that  their 
churches  are  also  true  Churches  (jf  Christ.  How  great 
should  be  the  geographical  area,  or  how  extensive  the 
organization  of  "  the  church^''  in  its  Presbyterian  form,  is 
nowhere  suggested,  that  point  being  left  to  be  decided  by 
providential  events.  A  limit  is  necessarily  imposed  by 
the  conditions  of  hunian  nature  and  society.  No  denom- 
ination can  be  universal ;  but  all  true  Christians  should 
recognize  their  essential  Mxniy ^  under  albtheir  circumstan- 
tial diversities,  and  confess  that  they  make  but  a  part  of 
the  one  universal  Church  of  Christ. 

*  It  must  seem  pingular  th.it  the  "  Prcsliyterian  Church  "has  entirely  waived 
the  title  of  "  preshyter"  for  its  ministry,  and  also  the  title  of  elder,  except  for  its 
ruling  eldership.  The  Form  of  Government,  ch.  rv,  note,  i-ecomiuends  the  title 
of  ''■ '■bishop''  as  one  peculiarly  osprcssive  of  the  pa&tor's  duty  ap  an  (ycermer  o^ 
the  flock,  and  one  under  which  the  ufiicf  and  character  of  the  Goi^pcl  minister  ii? 
fuliy  described.'" 


ADVANTAGES    OF    PRESBYTERTANISM.  69 

SEC.    XXIV.  —  ADVANTAGES   OF    PRESBYTERIANIS.M   OVER 
INDEPENDENCY.     . 

The  essential  principle  of  Independency  is,  that  there 
is  no  other  church  than  the  local  Christian  society,  and 
that  each  society  possesses,  exclusively,  all  church  power 
necessary  to  the  well  being  of  the  body,  including  ordi- 
nation, government  and  discipline  —  i.  e.,  it  denies,  m 
terras^  the  existence  of  an}^  visible  church,  catholic  or 
denominational.  There  is  no  churchy  but  only  churches. 
According  to  this  disintegrating  theory,  the  pastor  is  a 
member  of  his  own  or  some  other  local  church  ;  disci- 
pline is  administered  by  the  whole  bod}'  of  the  brother- 
hood, and  no  appeal  lies  from  their  decisions  to  any  other 
churcli  or  body  of  churches.  The  defects  of  this  system 
are  such  that  it  is  found  impossible,  in  practice,  to  limit 
it  to  the  demands  of  the  theory.  A  church  cannot  live 
as  a  mere  ecclesiastical  atom,  v^ithout  support,  direction 
and  restraint  by  other  churches.  Independency,  there- 
fore, has  relinquished  the  right  of  ordination  b}^  the  par- 
ticular church,  a.nd  has  relegated  this  work  to  an  asso- 
ciation of  pastors.  Instead  of  conducting  discipline  by 
the  whole  brotherhood,  it,  sometimes  at  least,  devolves 
this  work  on  a  standing  committee.  It  provides  for 
organization  by  associations  of  pastors,  by  consociation 
of  churches,  and  by  national  and  state  conventions.  All 
these  are  declared,  by  Congregational  authorities,  to  be 
"  gross  departures  from  the  principles  of  the  system,  and 
only  '  Presbyterianism  in  disguise  ' '"  (Sawj^er).  Even  as 
thus  modified,  Congregationalism,  having  no  written  con- 
stitution, and  no  system  of  appeals,  presents  but  a  feeble 
safeguard  for  the  rights  of  church  mem.bers,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  truth,  or  the  enforcement  of  discipline.     The 


(0  NATURE    AND    METHOD 

attempt  to  realize  the  iimti/  of  the  church,  contrar}^  to  its 
own  fundamental  principles,  and  secure  efficiency  of 
action  by  borrowing  features  from  another  system,  is  a 
confession  of  its  own  error  and  feebleness. 

Presbyterianism,  on  the  other  hand,  contains  within 
itself  all  the  elements  necessary  to  the  most  efficient 
working  of  the  sj^stem.  It  confesses  the  unity  of  the 
church,"  and  gives  expression  to  it  by  an  organization 
which  binds  the  parts,  from  a  church  session  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  into  a  living  whole.  Instead  of  having 
the  entire  brotherhood  agitated  with  each  case  of  disci- 
pline, it  is  managed  by  a  small  number  of  discreet  and 
judicious  persons,  who  are  usually  able,  without  public- 
itv,  to  heal  differences  and  prevent  scandal.  In  case  of 
wrong  in  judgment,  or  error  in  doctrine,  an  appeal  lies 
to  the  representatives  of  a  number  of  churches  —  a  pres- 
bytery ;  then  to  a  still  higher  court  —  a  synod  ;  and, 
finallv,  if  necessary,  to  the  represented  wisdom  of  the 
whole  church  ;  it  being  a  fundamental  principle  of  pres- 
bytery, as  of  our  national  government,  that  the  people, 
by  the  voice  of  their  representatives,  shall  decide  in  all 
cases,  under  a  constitution.  No  system  can  be  devised 
better  fitted  to  maintain  truth,  defend  character  and  enforce 
righteous  discipline  than  this.f 

SEC.  XXV.  —  NATURE  AND  METHOD  OF  ORDINATION. 

Ordination,  which  is  induction  to  the  office  of  the 
Christian  ministry,  is  performed  by  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  the  presbytery,  according  to  Scripture  example. 
It  is  immaterial  whether  all  the  presbytery  lay  on  hands, 

*in  Acts,  IX,  31 :  '•  T/ien  had  the  churches  rest  througliout  allJudea,  Galilee  and 
Samaria,  and  were  edified''  &c.  The  Sinaitic,  Vatican  and  Alexandrian  MSS. 
read :  '"  2'Iccn  had  tue  church  rest,  and  was  edifuid,'"  ic. 

tSee  Appendix  G. 


OF    ORDINTATION.  <  1 

or  only  one  or  more,  by  tlie  authority  of  tlie  whole  body. 
The  effect  of  ordination  is  not  to  impart  to  the  subject 
any  "  special  grace^^  or  to  impress  on  him  any  mysterious 
and  indelible  "  character  of  office,"  but  only  to  bestow 
on  him,  by  the  authority  of  the  church,  aforraal  commis- 
sion for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  It  is  on  this  ground, 
that  ordinations  in  the  Episcopal  Church  may  be  regarded 
as  valid,  viz.  :  not  that  the  bishop  has  any  divine  right 
to  act,  or  any  apostolic  grace  to  bestow,  more  than  any 
other  minister,  but  that  he  is  authorized  by  the  church 
he  serves  to  commission  others  to  preach  the  Grospel,  and 
that  the  ordinations  are  really  by  the  hands  of  a  pres- 
bytery.- 

The  word  "  ordain  "  is  used  in  our  version  to  represent 
twelve. Greek  verbs;  but  only  two  of  them  relate  to  the 
ordination  of  Christian  presb3'ters.  They  are  y.aOia-r^iu. 
meaning  to  appoint  or  constitute,  and  ytipnTO'^iio,  to  elect 
or  designate  to  office  by  laying  on  of  hands.  Neither  of 
these  words  suggests  the  idea  of  anything  more  than  a 
simple  appointment  to  the  work  of  the  ministrj^  b}^  com- 
petent authoritv  (Jacobs,  pp.  117,  118).  Tliat  ordination 
confers  any  supernatural  power  or  grace,  or  stairips  any 
"indelible  character,"  is  a  superstitious  idea,  having  no 
warrant  in  Scripture.  Ordination  merely  amounts  to  a 
commission  given  by  the  church  to  a  certain  person  to  do 
a  certain  work,  and  the  commission  is  naturally  revoca- 
ble whenever  the  abilitj^  or  disposition  to  do  the  work 
ceases.  Provision  should,  therefore,  be  made,  under  suit- 
able cautions,  for  the  demission  of  the  ministry  in  such 
cases.  The  false  conception  of  ordination  as  "a  sacra- 
ment," impressing  an  ineffaceable  character  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  making  him  "  once  a  minister^  always  a  minister^^ 

*  See  Appendix  K. 


72  thp:  christian  ministry 

is  burdensome,  alike  to  many  individual  ministers  and  to 
the  churcli  herself.^'*     (Jacobs,  p.  131.) 

This  dogma  which  we  have  inherited  from  the  Church 
of  Eome,  was  rejected  by  leading  English  reformers.  Dr. 
Field,  the  friend  of  Richard  Hooker,  and  highest  Epis- 
copal authority  against  the  Church  of  Rome,  teaches 
that  "  ordination  is  merely  for  the  sake  of  order."  ("  On 
the  church  :  "  Hunt,  I,  118.)  The  continental  ordination 
by  presbyters,  subserving  this  end,  was,  in  his  view,  valid 
ordination. 

SEC.     XXYI.  —  THE    CHRISTIAN   MINISTRY    NOT   A 
PRIESTHOOD. 

In  the  Romish  and  Episcopal  Churches,  it  is  taught 
that  the  Christian  ministry  is  a  ijriesthood ;  and  in  the 
former,  universally,  and  by  a  party  in  the  latter,  it  is 
held  that  Christian  worship  includes  what  is  correlative 
to  a  priesthood,  viz.  :  an  altar,  and  the  offering  upon  it 
of  a  true  and  proper  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  men.  This 
idea  took  possession  of  the  Christian  mind  very  early 
and  in  the  third  century  is  found  well  developed.  As 
there  was  a  priesthood  under  the  Law,  with  sacrifices  and 
a  hierarchy,  it  was  inferred  there  must  also  be  under  the 
Grospel.  Analogy  was  drawn  from  the  temple  service  in 
favor  of  an  altar,  sacrificing  priests,  and  a  three-fold  con- 
stitution of  the  ministry.  Of  the  Christian  fathers,  Igna- 
tius, Tertullian  and  Cyprian  were  particularly  influential 
in  encouraging  this  idea,  and  out  of  this  grew  the  whole 
sacerdotal  system  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  Chris- 
tian presbyter  became  a  sacerdos  —  a  cep^uq ;  the  com- 
munion table,  an  altar ;  the  devotional  service,  a  mass ; 
the  bread  and  wine  became  the  true  body  and  blood  of 

♦  See  Appendix  R. 


NOT   A    PRIESTHOOD.  id 

Christ,  which  was  daily  offered  up  to  the  Father  for  the 
sins  of  the  living  and  the  dead.  The  result  v^as  that 
cojnplete  system  of  sacramentalism,  which  enslaves  the 
cluii-ch  under  the  hands  of  the  clergy  ;  substitutes  a  mag- 
ical charm,  or  ojms  ojjeratum,  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  for  the  exercise  of  the  Christian  affections  ;  and 
resolves  the  whole  Christian  system  into  a  law  of  works 
and  c.irnal  ordinances.  For  all  this  there  is  no  warrant 
whatever  in  the  Nev7  Testament.  The  Christian  elder  is 
never  called  a  priest ;  nor  is  any  analogy  suggested 
between  the  Levitical  orders  or  service  and  the  Christian 
ministry  or  worship.  Ko  such  analogy  exists.  On  the 
contrary,  the  resemblance  is  close  between  the  order  of 
the  svniigogue  and  that  of  the  church  ;  and  we  have 
alread}'  seen  that  the  constitution  of  the  latter  was  organ- 
ized on  that  of  the  former.  This  disagreement  and 
resemblance  appears  in  the  following  particulars  : 

1.  The  names  of  the  office-bearers  in  the  church,  before 
the  third  centur}^,  were  those  of  the  synagogue,  not  of 
the  temple. 

2.  'The  places  of  ivorsJiip :  Only  one  temple,  but  many 
sj^nagogues  and  churches. 

3.  No  different  degrees  of  sanctity  in  the  synagogues, 
or  in  the  churches. 

4.  The  services  in  the  synagogne^  but  not  in  tlie  tem- 
ple, corresponded  with  those  of  the  Christian  Churches. 

5.  Yestmenls  were  emiployed  in  the  temple  :  not  in 
synagogues  nor  churches. 

6.  A  hereditary  priestly  class  in  the  temple ;  none  in 
the  synagogues  or  churches. 

7.  Service  in  tlie  temple  limited  to  a  certain  age  ;  not 
so  in  the  synagogues  or  churches. 


74  PRESBYTERIAN    DOCTRINE 

8.  Bodily  defects  excluded  from  the  temple  service  ; 
not  from  the  synagogues  or  churches. 

9.  "In  the  temple,  there  was  no  pulpit;  in  the  syna- 
gogues and  churches,  uo  altar." 

10.  The  temple  priests  were  formally  anointed  and 
consecrated ;  nothing  of  this  in  the  sjmagogues  or 
churches. 

11.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  an  elaborate  argu- 
ment to  prove  that  all  sacrifices  and  priesthoods  have 
passed  aw\ay,  being  summed  up  in  those  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  The  only  priests,  under  the  New  Testa- 
ment, are  the  entire  body  of  believers ;  and  the  only  sac- 
rifices are  spiritual  sacrifices  of  prayer  and  praise.  The 
sacerdotal  and  sacramental  system,  therefore,  is  an  at- 
tempt to  vacate  the  sole  priesthood  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  impose  on  the  church  the  yoke  of  the  abro- 
gated Judaism.  (See  Yitringa  de  Syn.  Yet:  quoted  by 
Jacobs,  pp.  96-110.) 

SEC.  XXVII.  —  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 
AS   TO  THE   SACRAMENTS. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  teaches  that  there  are  only 
two  sacraments  of  the  Kew  Testament  —  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper  ;  that  the  latter  is  to  be  administered 
to  believers,  and  the  former  to  believers  and  their  chil- 
dren. It  holds  that  these  sacraments  do  not  infuse  but 
only  signify  and  represent  the  grace  of  regeneration  and 
sanctification.  They  are  only  made  eftectual  to  the 
elect.  "  The  efiicacy  of  baptism  is  not  tied  to  that 
moment  of  time  wherein  it  is  administered ;  yet,  not- 
witiistanding,  by  the  right  use  of  tliis  ordinance,  the 
grace  promised  is  not  only  oifered,  but  really  exhibited 
and  conferred  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  such  (whether  of 


AS   TO   THE   SACRAMENTS.  (O 

age  or  infants)  as  that  grace  belongeth  unto,  according 
to  the  counsel  of  God's  own  will,  in  His  appointed  tinier 
(Conf.  :   xxviii,  (i) 

"  Worthy  receivers,  outwardly  partaking  of  the  visi- 
ble elements  in  this  sacrament  (the  Lord's  Supper)  do 
then  also  inwardly,  by  faith,  really  and  indeed,  yet  not 
carnally  and  corporeally,  but  spiritually  receive  and  feed 
upon  Christ  crucified,  and  all  the  benefits  of  His  death  ; 
the  body  and  blood  of  Clirist  being  then  not  corporeally 
or  carnally  in,  with,  or  under  the  bread  and  wine,  yet  as 
really,  but  spiritually,  present  to  the  faith  of  believers  m 
that  ordinance,  as  the  elements  themselves  are  to  their 
outward  senses/'     (Conf  :  xxix,  7.)" 

These  sacraments,  therefore,  are  not  effectual  mechanic- 
ally^ or  by  any  ^' opus  operatum^'  of  the  ordinances  them- 
selves, but  only  by  an  opus  operantis  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
attending  the  administration. 

Baptism  is  not  a  saving  ordinance,  nor  is  the  defect  of 
baptism  fatal  to  the  soul,  as  held  by  Augustine  and  the 
whole  Komish  Church.  It  has  no  effect  to  wash  away 
sin,  either  original  or  actual.  The  phrase  '^  lu ashing  of 
regeneration  "  (Titus  :  III,  5),  may  be  properly  interpreted, 
"  that  v^ ashing  which  signifies  regeneration  ;  "  and  the  pas- 
sage (Acts  :  XXII.  16),  "  Arise^  and  he  baptized,  and  ivash 
away  thy  sins''  is  merely  the  language  of  Ananias,  and 
not,  necessarily,  to  be  understood  as  conveying  Christian 
doctrine.  (Hodge,  ill,  598.)  There  is  no  "  transele- 
mentation,''  or 'special  sacredness  in  the  water  employed, 
as  there  is  no  change  whatever  in  the  elements  employed 
in  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  Church  of  Kome  and  that  portion  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  which  sympathizes  closely  with  it  hold,  that 

*  See  Appendix  Q. 


ib  PiiliSBVTERlAN    DOCTRINE 

the  sacraments,  properly  aclmirnstered  in  the  church  cath- 
olic, are  the  certain  and  necessary  channels  of  grace  to 
the  soul.  Baptism  is  in  the  strictest  sense  "regenera- 
tion;" and  justification  is  a  progressive  work,  which  is 
carried  on  to  the  end  of  life,  through  union  with  tlie 
church  and  partaking  of  her  sacraments.* 

These  views  made  a  part  of  that  "  sacramental  system  " 
which  so  early  invaded  the  Christian  Church,  and  which 
to  so  ofreat  an  extent  identified  the  Christian  life  with  a 
round  of  external  performances.  It  was  repudiated  by 
the  reformers  in  favor  of  a  religion  consisting  of  union 
with  the  church  catholic,  orthodoxy,  the  personal  exer- 
cise of  repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  cultivation  of  all  Christian  virtues. 
The  reformers,  indeed,  often  employed  language  properly 
belonging  to  the  sacramental  system,  particularly  as  to 
the  efficacy  of  baptism  ;  but  the  evangelical  features  of 
the  Calvinistic  theology,  which  they  adopted,  steadily 
overpowered  the  sacramental,  and  their  characteristic 
dogma  became  justification  by  faith,  and  not  justification 
by  outward  ordinances. 

As  early  as  Augustine,  a  tendency  appeared  to  en- 
large the  number  of  the  sacraments ;  but  it  was  not 
until  the  twelfth  century  that  they  were  definitely 
fixed  at  iseven,  viz.  :  Baptism,  confirmation,  the  eucha- 
rist,  penance,  matrimony,  orders  and  extreme  unction, 
which  are  alleged  to  correspond  to  the  seven  necessi- 
ties of  man,  viz.  :  Birth,  growth,  nourishment,  healing, 
the  family,  government,  and  death.  Of  these,  matrimony 
and  orders  are  necessary  for  some,  and  the  rest  for  all 
believers. 

*See  Appendix  L. 


AS  TO  IXFAXT    :MEMBEKSHIP,  <  . 

SEC.  XXViri.  —  DOCTRTXE  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAX  CHURCfl 
AS  TO  IXFANT  CHURCH  :^EMBER3HIP. 

The  doctrine  of  the  standards  on  this  subject  is, 
"that  the  children  of  believing  parents  are  members 
bj  birth  of  the  church  catholic,  and  are  to  be  baptized  in 
recognition  of  that  fact.  Thej  are  also  members  by 
birth  of  the  particular  church  to  which  their  parents 
belong,  and  are  under  its  watch  and  care."  Thev  are 
thus ''  young  Christians."  "  They  are  to  be  instructed  in 
the  Scriptures  and  the  faith  of  the  church.;  and,  on  arriv- 
ing at  years  of  discretion,  if  thej^  are  free  from  scandal, 
appear  sober  and  steady,  and  have  sufficient  knowledge 
to  discern  the  Lord's  body,  it  is  their  duty  and  privilege 
to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper." 

"  The  years  of  discretion  in  young  Christians  cannot 
be  precisely  fixed.  Tliis  must  be  left  to  the  prudence  of 
the  eldership.  The  officers  of  the  church  are  the  judges 
of  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  commAinion,  and  of 
the  time  when  it  is  proper  to  admit  young  Christians  to 
the  Lord's  table.  Before  being  admitted,  they  shall 
be  examined  as  to  their  knowledge  and  piety."  (Direc- 
tory :  IX,  1,  3.) 

Baptized  children,  therefore,  are  "  3'oung  Christians," 
and  members  of  the  church.  They  do  not  need  to  ^^joia 
the  church  "  in  maturer  years,  being  already  within  it  ; 
but  their  coming  to  the  table  of  the  Lord  is  conditioned 
on  their  "  knowledge  and  piety."  The  sum  of  the  knowl- 
edge required  is,  that  (having  been  taught  the  catechism, 
the  apostles'  creed,  and  the  Lord's  prayer,)  they  can 
"  discern  the  Lord's  body ;"  (1  Cor :  xi,  29,)  that  is, 
can  understand  the  nature  of  the  ordinance  as  a  Chris- 


l6  PRESBYTERIAN    DOCTRINE 

tian  sacrament.^'  The  sum  of  the  "i^z'e/^"  required  is 
that  they  are  "  free  from  scandal,  and  appear  sober  and 
steady."  How  far  '•  young  Christians "  possess  these 
qualifications,  and  also  what  is  the  "age  of  discretion  " 
in  each  instance,  is  "  left  to  the  prudence  of  the  elder- 
ship," and  to  be  ascertained  by  examination.  But  none 
are  to  be  excluded  from  any  supposed  defect  of  a  '•  relig- 
ious experience,"  or  inability  to  give  a  histoj-y  of  their 
conversion.  Having  the  above-named  qualifications, 
and  on  the  ground  of  these  alone,  '•  it  is  their  duty  and 
privilege  to  come  to  the  Lord's  table."  The  opinion  of 
the  eldership  that  they  are  or  are  not  '•  regeneratecV^  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  question.  Nothing  should  forbid 
a  "young  Christian''  to  come  to  the  Lord's  table,  which 
would  not  equally  exclude  one  already  a  communicant; 
but  no  communicant  is  to  be  excluded  from  any  mere 
suspicion  or  belief  that  he  is  not  truly  "regenerated." 
(See  Hodge's  Theology,  part  ill,  ch.  xx,  sec.  11,  12.) 
-The  sacraments,  though  not  the  necessary  or  exclusive 
channels  for  conveying  gjace  to  the  soul,  are  "  means  of 


*  That  '■'■  discerning  the  Lord's  body''''  does  not  mean  having  a  true  spiritual 
experience,  or  being  regenerated  persons,  appears:  1.  Because  this  is  evidently 
not  the  meaning  of  the  passage  1  Cor.  :  xi,  29.  The  sin  of  the  'orinthian 
communicants  was  not  that  they  were  unregenerate,  but  that  they  attended  on 
the  Lord's  Supper  in  a  riotous  and  profane  manner,  taking  no  concern  to  distin- 
guish between  it  and  a  common  feast.  2.  This  interpretation  is  inconsistent 
with  the  language  of  the  Directory,  which  nowhere  maizes  "  regeneration  "  a  con- 
dition of  con.ingto  the  Lord's  Supper.  "The  profane,  ignorant  and  scandalous, 
and  those  that  secretly  indulge  in  any  known  sin,"  are  not  to  come.  Those  are 
invited,  who,  (1)  being  sensible  of  their  lost  and  helplesiiistate  by  sin,  f^opend  on 
the  atonement  of  Chiist  for  pardon.  (2)  Those  who  desire  to  renounce  their  sins, 
and  are  determined  to  lead  a  holy  and  Godly  life.  (3)  Those  who,  being  instructed 
in  the  Gospel  doctrine,  have  a  competent  knowledge  to.discern  the  Lord's  body." 
(Directory,  viii,  4.)  It  would  be  clearly  absurd  to  interpret  a  "  competent  knowl- 
edge to  discern  the  Lord's  body,"  as  meaning  a  true  inward  religious  experi- 
ence. "Free  from  scandal,  sober  and  steady,  and  axe  truly  regenerate]''''  The 
latter  requirement  would  make  the  others  quite  superfluous.  In  chap,  ix,  1,  the 
language  is,  "  sufficient  knowledge  to  discern  the  Lord's  body."  Clearly,  it  can- 
not mean  sufficient  regeneration. 


AS  TO  IXFANT    MEMBERSHIP.  /  9 

grace  ;''  and  persons  receiving  either  tlie  one  or  the  other 
of  them  while  still  unregenerate,  may  be  brought  by 
means  of  them  to  a  saving  experience  of  the  truth." 

These  same  views  of  the  relation  of  baptized  children 
to  the  church  were  afQrmed  by  the  earliest  New  Eng- 
land pilgrims.  The  Plvmoutli  and  Salem  churches  both 
agreed  "  that  the  children  of  the  faithful  were  church 
members  with  their  parents,  and  that  their  baptism  was 
a  seal  of  their  being  so  ;  only  before  their  admission  to 
fellowship  in  a  particular  church,  it  was  judged  neces- 
sary that,  being  free  from  scandal,  they  should  be  exam- 
ined by  the  elders  of  the  church,  upon  whose  approba- 
tion of  their  fitness  they  should  publicly  and  personally 
own  the  covenant."     (Magnalia,  i,  67.) 

"  The  ministration  of  the  table  should  never  be  with- 
out a  sharp  examination  going  before,  chiefly  of  them 
whose  life,  ignorance,  or  religion  is  suspected.  Who 
cannot  say  the  Lord's  prayer,  the  articles  of  the  faith, 
and  the  sum  of  the  law,  should  not  be  admitted."  (First 
Book  of  Discipline  of  the  Scottish  Kirk,  Art.  xiii.) 

SEC.  XXX.  —  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  FORM  OF  GOVERNiZENT  IN 
REGARD  TO  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  this  subject 
is,  that  all  church  power  is  only  ministerial  and  declara- 
tive. The  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
manners ;  and  no  church  judicatory  ought  to  pretend  to 
make  laws  to  bind  the  conscience  by  their  own  authority. 
Their  decisions  should  be  founded  on  the  revealed  will 
of  God  (Ch  ,  I,  7).  These  principles  require  the  closest 
possible  conformity  to  the  Scripture  platform  of  worship 
and  discipline,  consistent  with  a  due  regard  to  the  modi- 

*  See  Appendix  Q. 


6U  DuCnUXE    OF   (lUVEHN-MiiXi     iX    liEiiAltD 

fications  imposed  by  changes  of  times  and  circumstances. 

Tlie  inspired  writers  have  not  gone  into  details  on 
these  points.  Public  worship  consists  of  prayer,  praise, 
reading  the  Scriptures,  preaching,  administering  sacra-- 
ments,  &c.  But  the  method  of  performing  these  ser- 
vices, as,  e.  g.^  whether  prayer  should  be  free  or  liturgi- 
cal, whether  praise  by  the  use  of  versified  hymns  and  the 
aid  of  instruments,  the  frequency  and  order  of  reading 
-the  Scriptures,  the  times  and  manner  of  administering 
baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  preaching  with  or  with- 
out certain  vestments,  &c.,  these,  and  many  other  points 
are  left  to  the  discretion  of  eacii  church.  If  a  church 
ordain  that  the  Lord's  Supper  shall  be  administered 
once  a  month,  or  only  once  a  year,  and  .shall  be  received 
kneeling^  it  merely  exercises  the  right  of  expounding 
Christ's  laws.  But  if  it  ordain  that  the  sacrament  shall 
be  received  only  under  one  kind^  or  that  ministers  shall 
not  marry ^  it  usurps  the  power  of  making  laws  for  the 
church. 

This  principle  allows  to  each  church  ''  the  rigiit  of  fix- 
ing on  its  own  terms  of  communion,  and  the  qualifica- 
tions of  its  ministers  and  members,  as  well  as  the  whole 
system  of  its  internal  government,  which  Christ  hath 
appointed,"  (Form  of  Gov.  :  I,  2,)  and  it  requires  the 
members  of  each  church  to  submit  to  the  not  unscrip- 
tural  laws  and  usages  of  that  church. 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  doctrine  of  the  xxxrx  arti- 
cles. Art.  34.  "Traditions  and  ceremonies  have  always 
varied  in  the  church,  and  may  be  changed  according  to 
the  diversity  of  countries,  times,  and  men's  manners,  so 
that  nothing  be  ordained  against  God's  word.  Who- 
ever, on  the  ground  of  his  private  judgment,  shall  vio- 
late such    ceremonies,  ordained  hy  common    authoi'ity 


TO    THE    AL'THOKITY  OF  THE    UiirRCH.  >>i 

and  not  repugnant  to  tiie  Word  of  God,  ought  to  be 
rebuked  openly.  Every  particular  or  national  church 
hath  authority  to  ordain,  change  and  abolish  rites  of  the 
church,  ordained  only  by  man's  authorit}',  so  that  all 
things  be  done  to  edifying." 

In  accordance  with  this  is  the  argument  of  Richard 
Hooker,  in  the  3d  Book  of  his  Eccles.  Polity.  Against 
the  Puritans,  who  held  that  nothing  was  allowable,  either 
in  worship  or  discipline,  for  which  a  plain  warrant  could 
not  be  found  in  Scripture,  he  argued  that  the  Scripture 
laws  on  these  subjects  are,  of  necessity,  both  general  and 
liable  to  modification ;  that  while  the  faith  is  one  and 
unchangeable,  polity  and  ceremonies  may  be  various, 
according  to  the  changing  conditions  of  society  ;  and 
that  the  ritual  of  the  Anglican  Church  being  only  an 
exposition  of  Christ's  laws,  requiring  propriety  and  deco- 
rum in  worship,  was  binding  on  the  conscience  of  all  its 
members. 

This  celebrated  argument,  therefore,  did  not  proceed 
on  the  claim  of  a  divine  right  f^r  Episcopacy,  either  as 
respects  its  polity  or  its  ritual ;  but  only  on  the  right  of 
each  church  to  provide  for  itself  in  these  respects,  in 
accordance  with  the  general  principles,  and  not  in  contra- 
diction to  any  express  provision  of  the  Word  of  God. 

But  Hooker  maintained  the  right  and  duty  of  the  civil 
magistrate  to  enforce  the  decisions  of  the  church,  by  pains 
and  penalties,  against  all  dissenters.  His  work,  there- 
fore, embraces  the  detestable  principle  of  religious  perse- 
cution. 

SEC.  XXXI.  —  DOCTRIXE   OF   THE   DIRECTORY   IX  REGARD 
TO  PUBLIC  PRAYER. 

The  Director}'  for  Worship  (Ch.,  Y,  3)  observes,  that, 
"  although  we  do  not  approve,  as  is  well  known,  of  con- 


82  DOCTKINE    OF   THE    DIRECTOKY    IN 

firdny  ministers  to  set  or  fixed  forms  of  prayer,  yet  it  is 
the  indispensable  duty  uf  every  minister  to  prepare  and 
qualify  himself  for  this  part  of  his  duty.  He  ought,  by 
a  thorough  acquaintance  with- the  Holy  Scriptures,  by 
reading,  the  best  writers  on  the  subject,  by  meditation, 
and  by  a  life  of  communion  with  God  in  secret,  to 
acquire  both  the  spirit  and  the  gift  of  prayer.  Not  only 
so,  but  when  he  is  to  enter  on  particular  acts  of  worship, 
he  should  endeavor  to  compose  his  spirit,  and  to  digest 
his  thoughts  for  prayer,  that  it  may  be  performed  with 
dignity  and  propriety,  and  that  he  maj^  not  disgrace  that 
important  service  by  mean,  irregular,  or  extravagant 
effusions." 

But  there  is  nothing  in  the  constitution  or  the  history 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  forbid  the  use  of  a  judi- 
cious liturgy.  The  early  Churches  of  Switzerland  and 
France  performed  public  prayer  in  this  mode,  using  a 
service  drawn  up  by  John  Calvin.  The  early  Scottish 
Kirk  employed  a  liturgy  prepared  by  John  Knox."^  Kich- 
ard  Baxter  prepared  a  liturgy  to  be  used  by  the  united 
Presbyterians  and  Episcopalians  of  England.  The 
Eeformed  (Dutch)  Church  has  a  full  liturgy,  which  is 
usually  employed,  however,  only  in  the  administration 
of  the  sacraments.  When,  after  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  (1787),  the  Presbyterian  Church  (like  the 
Episcopal)  revised  her  standards,  a  committee  composed  of 
four  of  the  most  eminent  ministers  of  the  church  reported 
to  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  a  lull  Form 
of  Prayer,  covering  all  the  parts  of  the  service  ;  but  this 
did  not  secure  the  approval  of  the  Synod.  (See  Eutaxia,  p. 
228.  Life  of  Dr.  Grreen,  p.  184.)  The  Directory  contains 
ample  instructions  as  to  the  mode  in  which  prayei",  read- 

*  See  Appendix  T. 


REGAKD    TO    PUBLIC    FiiAYEK.  83 

ing  tlie  Scripture,  adininistration  of  the  sacraments,  mar- 
riage, baptismal  services,  &c.,  are  to  be  cond acted. ^^ 

SEC.     XXXII.  —  ADVANTAGES    AND     DISADVANTAGES     OF 
LITURGICAL  PRAYER. 

The  practice  of  the  Christian  Church,  universally,  from 
the  4th  to  the  16th  century,  and  of  a  large  proportion 
even  of  the  Protestant  Churches  since,  has  been,  and  is,  to 
conduct  public  prayer  by  means  of  prescribed  forms. 
Only  the  dissenters  in  England,  the  Presbyterians  every- 
where, and  the  Baptist,  Methodist,  and  other  non-prelati- 
cal  bodies  in  America,  make  use  of  free  prayer.  And 
even  the  Methodists,  the  Reformed  (Dutch),  the  German 
Reformed  and  the  Lutheran  Churches  make  use,  in  part, 
of  a  liturgy.  It  is  especially  characteristic  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church.     In  favor  of  this  method  is  alleged  : 

1.  The  "propriety  and  dignity  "  with  which  praj'er  is 
performed  by  this  mode.  These  are  qualities  not  to  be 
undervalued,  in  the  public  worship  of  Cod.  It  is  admit- 
ted, that  in  free  prayer,  they  may  sometimes  be  lacking, 
and  that  instead  of  them  maybe  found  "mean,  irregular 
and  extravagant  effusions."  Few  ministers  will  care- 
fully prepare  themselves  b}^  the  methods  recommended 
for  this  part  of  the  service.  It  is  too  often  the  case  that 
hesitation,  repetitiousness,  infelicities  of  expression,  mea- 
greness  of  thought,  lack  of  Scriptural  phraseology,  a 
rhetorical  and  declamatory  style,  the  omission  of  appro- 
priate topics,  excessive  length,  etc.,  make  non-liturgical 
prayers  unedifying.f 


*  See  Appendix  L. 

t  "  The  essentially  intellectual  character  of  an  extemporaneous  composition, 
spoken  to  the  Creator  with  the  consciousness  that  many  of  His  creatures  are  lis 
tening,  to  criticise  or  to  admire,  is  the  great  argument  for  set  forms  of  prayer." 
(The  Guardian  Angel,  by  O.  W.  Holmes,  p.  119.) 


84:  ADVANTAGES  ANL>    DISADVANTAGES 

A  Liturgy,  on  the  other  hand,  is  drawn  from  the  whole 
liturgical  wealth  of  the  church  ;  from  the  prayers  of  the 
earl}^  fathers  and  later  divines ;  from  the  works  of  the 
best  devotional  wa'iters,  etc.,  in  a  dignified  and  Scrip- 
tural stjde,  and  with  the  use  of  the  best  and  most  impor- 
tant topics. 

2.  It  is  claimed  there  is  an  advantage  in  the  worship- 
er's being  familiar  w^ith  the  succession  and  routine  of  the 
prayers.  The  Presbj^terian,  in  church,  is  entirely  depend- 
ent on  the  discretion  of  the  officiating  minister.  He  does 
not  know,  from  one  sentence  to  another,  what  objects  he 
is  to  be  called  to  pray  for;  and  he  can  pray  for  no 
object,  however  important,  (as,  e.  ^.,  for  rulers,)  which 
the  minister  does  not  introduce.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
worshiper  with  a  liturgy  knows  in  advance  what  are  the 
petitions  in  which  he  is  to  join,  and  can  conform  his  sen- 
timents to  them. 

8.  There  is  an  influence  favorable  to  Christian  unity 
and  sympathy  in  having  all  the  parts  of  the  church  join 
in  the  same  prayer,  at  the  same  time.  The  whole  church, 
throughout  a  kingdom  or  a  continent,  is  pouring  forth 
the  voice  of  worship  at  once,  in  the  same  confessions, 
petitions  and  thanksgivings.  This  nurses  a  feeling  of 
Christian  fellowship,  and  makes  the  liturgy,  which  is  the 
means  of  it,  very  dear  to  the  heart. 

4.  The  use  of  a  hook  may  be  favorable  to  concentra- 
tion of  mind  in  prayer. 

5.  The  spoken  Amen  !  is  an  impressive  and  Scri23tural 
form  of  assent  to  the  prayer,  by  the  people." 

Against  these  advantages  may  be  set  off, 

*  In  answer  to  an  overture  in  regard  to  responsive  and  ritualistic  services,  the 
General  Assembly,  of  1874,  replied,  that  "  the  practice  of  responsive  service  in  the 
public  worship  of  the  sanctuary  is  without  warrant  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
is  unwise  and  impolitic,  in  view  of  its  inevitable  tendency  to  destroy  uniform- 
ity in  our  mode  of  worship  !" 


OF   LITURGICAL    PRAYER.  bO 

1.  The  want  of  adaptation,  in  a  liturgj:  to  the  vary- 
ing wants  and  circumstances  of  a  congregation.  Events 
often  occur  calling  for  joarticular  notice  in  prayer.  The 
condition  of  the  local  church  and  of  the  church  at  large 
varies.  This  objection  might  be  obviated  bj  occasional 
revisions  of  the  prayer  book,  and  especially  by  leaving 
a  part  of  the  service  for  free  prayer,  as  formerly  prac- 
ticed in  the  English  Church. 

2.  The  tendency  to  formalism,  which  is  inseparable 
from  any  rigid  and  unvarying  liturgy.  The  forms  come 
to  be  regarded  as  of  the  essence  of  the  worship,  and  are 
held  in  superstitious  veneration.  Their  use  dries  up  the 
facility  of  devotional  expression,  and  becomes  the  sub- 
stitute for  social  and  even  for  personal  prayer.  Liturgi- 
cal churches  have  no  prayer  meetings. 

3.  The  use  of  a  liturgy  tends  to  ultra-conservatism, 
and  a  looking  to  the  past  for  the  ideal  condition  of  the 
church.  Liturgists  are  prone  to  consider  their  own  forms 
as  absolutely  perfect,  and  to  discard  the  thought  of  any 
improvement  oi!  the  wisdom  of  their  compilers.  This 
paralizes  a  church's  energies,  makes  her  narrow  and 
illiberal,  and  reduces  her  efficiency  in  every  department 
of  active  Christian  work. 

4.  A  rigid  liturgy  interferes  with  the  communion  of 
saints,  and  forbids  co-operation  among  Christian  Churches. 

A  judicious  liturgy,  drawn  from  the  best  sources,  lia- 
ble to  occasional  amendment,  and  leaving  part  of  the  ser- 
vice for  free  prayer,  might  be  an  imj^rovement  on  any 
existing  method  of  conducting  public  devotion. 

SEC.    XXXIIL — HISTORY   OF   THE   BOOK   OF   COMMON 
PRAYER. 

Upon  the  accession  of  Edward  YI,  (1547)  and  under 
the  influence  of  Arch-bishop  Cranmer,  the  Eeformation 


86  HISTORY   OF  THE   BOOK   OF 

ill  England  came  forth  into  recognized  existence,  and 
measures  were  at  once  taken  to  divest  public  worship  of 
the  more  offensive  features  of  Eomanism.  The  English 
clergy  had  all,  of  course,  received  their  ordination  as 
Komish  priests,  and  most  of  them  still  clung  to  the  old 
superstitions.  The  Parliament,  the  young  and  pious 
sovereign,  his  uncle  the  Earl  of  Hertford,  (the  regent) 
and  Cranmer,  were  zealous  for  reformation.  Intimate 
relations  were  maintained  with  continental  reformers, 
several  of  whom,  as  Peter  Martyr,  Bucer,  and  Calvin 
himself,  were  invited  to  aid  in  Protestantizing  the  Eng- 
lish Church.  In  1548  all  popish  rites  and  shows  were 
forbidden,  and  images  removed  from  the  churches.  The 
first  book  of  common  prayer  was  drawn  up  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  leading  divines  of  the  kingdom.  It  w^as 
founded  on  the  Eomish  missals,  or  prayer  books,  of 
Sarum,  York,  Hereford  and  Bangor,  leaving  out  the 
most  objectionable  features,  but  retaining  the  vestments, 
the  altar,  the  cross  in  baptism,  prayer  for  the  dead,  etc. 
Zealous  individual  reformers,  as  Eidley  and  Latimer, 
went  further  in  their  own  dioceses,  removing  the  altar, 
discarding  the  vestments,  etc.  ;  and,  in  1552,  shortly 
before  the  king's  death,  a  second  book  of  prayer  was 
issued,  by  royal  authority,  embodying  these  and  various 
other  improvements,  and  leaving  the  Church  of  England 
reformed  to  a  degree  satisfactory  to  the  best  continental 
Protestants.  Calvin  thought  the  service  still  contained 
certain  "  tolerabiles  ineptias."  Cranmer,  and  Parker, 
his  successor  in  the  See  of  Canterbury,  though  preferring 
Episcopacy,  fully  recognized  the  validity  of  Presbyterian 
ordinations,  and  corresponded  with  Calvin  with  a  view 
of  uniting  all  the  Keformed  Churches  in  one  commun- 
ion.    This  was  to  be  on  the  basis  of  a  compromise  which 


COMMON   PRAYER.  87 

retained  Episcopac}',  but  discarded  everjtliing  in  it  that 
was  objectionable  in  the  continental  churches.  This  plan 
failed  from  the  death  of  Calviuj  in  1561.  (Hunt's  Hist. : 
I,  41.) 

On  the  accession  of  Qaeen  Elizabeth,  the  prayer  book 
was  brought  back  again  to  the  standard  of  Edward  YIth's, 
first  book  ;  the  images  were  replaced  in  the  churches  ; 
the  old  Eomish  ceremonies  restored,  and  the  prayer 
against  the  "  Bishop  of  Eome  and  his  detestable  enormi- 
ties "  struck  out.  The  policy  of  the  queen  was  to  con- 
ciliate her  Romish  subjects,  who  were  a  formidable  party, 
at  the  expense  of  the  Paritans,  whom  she  particularly 
disliked,  though  the  latter  were  quiet  and  loyal  subjects, 
while  the  former  never  ceased  plotting  against  her  throne 
and  life.  So  thinsjs  remained  throus^h  her  reisrn,  and 
those  of  James  and  Charles  I. 

On  the  restoration  of  monarchy  (1661)  a  conference 
("  Savoy  Conference ")  was  held  by  royal  authority, 
between  a  body  of  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  divines,  at 
which  the  latter  consented  to  accept  the  book  of  common 
prayer,  with  certain  amendments,  as  respects  vestments, 
signing  with  the  cross,  pronouncing  the  absolution,  the 
baptismal  and  burial  service,  &c.  These  being  rejected. 
Mr.  Baxter  proposed  his  ''  Eeform^ed  Liturgy,"  which  was 
also  refused.  The  Episcopal  hierarchy,  triumphant  and 
vindictive,  showed  no  disposition  to  accommodate  the 
Presbj^terians,  who  had  aided  so  influentially  in  restoring 
monarchy  and  prelacy.  Instead  of  yielding  to  any  de- 
mands in  the  direction  of  liberality,  they  made  the  service 
more  rigid  than  before,  introducing'  some  changes  ex- 
pressly to  disown  Presbyterian  views.  During  the  time 
of  the  commonwealth,  great  numbers  of  the  parish 
priests  had  been  displaced,  as  ignorant  and  scandalous,  or 


88  BOOK    OF  COM.^LON    PRAYEK. 

seditions ;  earnest  and  devout  ministers,  mostly  Episco- 
pal by  ordination,  though  Presbyterian  in  sentiment,  had 
taken  their  places.  These  were  now  required  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  act  of  uniformity  ;  submit,  if  they  had  been 
ordained  by  presbyters,  to  re-ordination,  and  confess  the 
unlawfulness  of  their  previous  conduct.  This  led  to  the 
''Black  Bartholomew"  {24  of  Aug.,  1662),  when  2,000 
such  ministers  quitted  their  livings  in  a  body. 

Immediately  after  the  English  Kevolution  of  1688,  an 
attempt  was  made,  with  the  sanction  of  King  William 
and  under  the  guidance  of  the  liberal  Arch-bishop  Til- 
lotson,  at  such  modifications  of  the  prayer  book  as  would 
result  in  reconciling  all  dissenters  to  the  Established 
Church.  Through  the  bigotry  of  the  high  cliurch 
clergy,  this  also  failed,  and  no  attempt  has  since  been 
made  to  amend  the  liturgy.  After  the  establishment  of 
American  Independence,  some  slight  changes,  adapted  to 
the  changed  political  condition,  were  made.  The  Atha- 
nasian  creed,  against  the  strenuous  opposition  of  Bishop 
Seaburj',  but  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of  the  devout 
and  charitable  Bishop  White,  was  dropped.  Other 
changes  have  been  urgently  pressed  by  the  low  church - 
party,  but  have  only  been  obtained  by  the  secession 
under  Bishop  Cummins,  1878."^ 

*  It  has  been  repeatedlj-  said,  and  even  by  some  recent  Episcopal  writers  of  high 
standing,  who  cannot  have  taken  the  trouble  to  refer  to  Calvin's  writings  them- 
8elves,'.that  the  Genevan  reformer  preferred  the  system  of  government  by  bish- 
ops, and  would  gladly  have  secured  the  succession  from  the  Anglican  Episcopate 
for  his  own  church,  if  possible.  The  statement  must  appear  essentially  ludicrous 
to  all  persons,  even  moderately  versed  in  the  history  of  the  Reformation,  and  is 
at  once  disproved  by  reading,  in  its  full  connection,  the  paseage  relied  on  in 
proof.  It  is  found  In  the  treatise,  De  nececsitate  reformandce  ecclesice,  addressed 
to  the  Emperor  and  the  Catholic  Princes,  as  an  apology  for  the  Reformation.  It 
is  occupied  exclusively  with  the  argument  against  the  Church  of  Rome,  not  even 
making  an  allusion  to  the  Episcopacy  of  the  English  Church.  "  Our  adversaries 
allege,"  he  says,  "  that  all  heresy  and  schis-m  result  from  neglecting  to  go  back 
to  the  source  of  truth,  and  seek  instruction  from  the  divinely  ordained  head* 


PEESBYTERIAN   ORDINATIONS.  bU 

SEC.    XXXIV.  —  DEDUCTION  OF  PRESBYTERIAN   ORDI- 
NATIONS  IN  AMERICA. 

The  existing  body  of  Presbyterian  ministers  in  Amer- 
ica, derive -their  ordinations  from  the  Anglican  Chnrch, 
through  three  separate  lines : 

1.  Through  the  Puritans  of  New  England.  —  These 
consisted  of  Non-conformist  members  of  the  English 
Church,  who  fled  to  this  country  to  escape  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  bishops.  The  first  colonists  brought  no  min- 
ister with  them,  the  Kev.  Mr.  Eobinson  having  elected 
to  stay  with  that  portion  of  the  flock  which  remained  in 
Holland.  But,  in  1629,  three  English  clergym.en  arrived 
in  New  England,  viz.  :  Eev.  Kalph  Sm^ith,  at  Plymouth, 
and  Eev.  Messrs.  Higginson  and  Shelton,  at  Salem.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  years,  more  than  seventy  other  Non- 
conformist English  clergy  came  over.  Ail  these  had 
received  their  own  ordination  at  the  hands  of  .English 
Bishops;  but,  agreeably  to" the  Presbyterian  principles 

Talem  nobis  exhibeant  hierarchiam.  &c. ;  let  them  show  us  a  hierarchy  in  which 
the  bishops  shall  so  rule  as  to  recognize,  at  the  same  time,  their  subjection  to 
Christ ;  shall  depend  on  Him  as  their  only  Head,  and  derive  from  Him  all  their 
authority ;  shall  cherish  between  themselves  fraternal  concord,  and  be  bound 
together  by  no  other  tie  than  holding  the  truth  in  common  ;  then,  indeed,  I  will 
confess  that  those  who  would  not  reverently  submit  to  it,  would  deserve  any 
anathema  whatever.  But  this  fraudulent  sham  of  a  hierarchy,  rhey  make  so  much 
of,  in  what  single  feature  does  it  resemble  a  genuine  Episcopacy  ?  The  Bishop  of 
Eome,  governing  without  law,  like  a  tyrant,  yea,  with  a  more  reckless  license 
than  any  tyrant,  holds  the  headship.  The  rest  of  the  ecclesiastical  body  is  fash- 
ioned after  his  style,  and  not  after  the  model  of  Christ,"  &c.  The  spirit  of  the 
whole  passage  is,  that  if  the  Pope  and  the  Eomish  Bishops  had  been  humble, 
devout,  Christian  men,  holding  the  truth,  and  watching  over  the  flock  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Great  Bishop  and  Shepherd  of  souls,  the  Reformation  would  have 
been  unjustifiable,  and  the  Protestants  inexcusable  schismatics.  On  that  absurd 
supposition,  we  may  easily  aflirm  the  same  thing.  As  Calvin  here  denies  that  the 
existence  of  a  true  church  depends  on  its  union  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  so  he 
elsewhere,  particularly  in  his  Vera  ecclesm  reformandce  ratio  discards  emphati- 
cally the  idea  that  it  depends'on  the  ministry  or  on  an  apostolic  succession.  The 
church  is  perpetuated  all  the  same,  he  says,  however  the  succession  of  bishops 
may  be  broken. 


90  -DEDUCTION  OF   PRESBYTERIAN 

they  bad  adopted,  they  felt  no  liesitation  in  perpetuating 
the  ministr}'  ia  America  without  the  aid  of  bishops. 
These  English  presbyters  had,  probably,  been  ordained 
in  the  early  part  of  the  centurj^ ;  and,  therefore,  any 
American  minister  who  could  trace  back  through  New 
England  the  line  of  ordinations  ending  in  himself,  would 
find  it  ran  into  the  English  Episcopate,  somewhere  from 
1600  to  1680. 

2.  Through  the  Presbyterians  of  the  commonwealth. — 
Up  to  the  year  1648,  though  many  of  the  English  clergy 
were  of  Presbyterian  sentiments,  there  had  been  no  ordi- 
nations in  England  except  by  the  hands  of  bishops.  On 
the  5th  of  November  of  that  year,  (the  civil  war  then 
raging,  and  Long  Parliament  being  in  session,)  Episco- 
pacy was  abolished,  by  concurrent  action  of  the  Lords 
and  Commons.  The  bishops  all  ranged  themselves  on 
the  side  of  the  king.  The  universities  were  closed. 
Manv  of  the  clergy  deserted  their  parishes,  and  joined 
the  royal  army.  No  candidates  for  the  ministry  came 
forward.  The  consequence  was,  that  many  of  the  par- 
ishes were  soon  left  without  clergy ;  and  of  the  parish 
ministers  who  remained,  many  were  worse  than  none, 
beino-  io-norant  and  scandalous  in  life,  and  equally  zeal- 
ous for  the  king,  and  against  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
with  the  others.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  parlia- 
ment directed  the  Westminster  Assembly  to  consider 
and  report  on  the  validity  of  ordination  without  bishops. 
After  full  discussion,  they  reported  in  ftxvor  of  Presbyte- 
rian ordination.  Thereupon,  a  committee  was  appointed 
of  twenty-three  presbyters,  to  examine  and  ordain  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry.  All  persons  ordained  by  them, 
or  a  quorum  of  them,  (7)  were  to  be  reputed  ministers,  in 
full  standi  no-  of  the  "  Church  of  England."     These  twen- 


ORDIXATIOXS   IN   AMERICA.  91 

tj-three  ordaining  presbyters  had  themselves  been  regu- 
larly ordained  by  bishops.  It  is  at  this  point,  therefore, 
that  Presbyterian  ordinations  began  in  England.  The 
succession  was  preserved,  was  transmitted  to  this  coun- 
try, and  has  been  perpetuated  ever  since.  Any  Presby- 
terian minister  who  could  trace  his  "  ecclesiastical  pedi- 
gree "  back  through  this  line,  would  find  it  running  into 
the  English  Episcopate  somewhere  from  1620  to  1640  — 
that  is,  in  the  persons  of  the  bishops  who  ordained  any 
of  these  twenty  three  ordainers. 

3.  Through  the  Scotch-Irish  presbyters.  —  Protest- 
antism gained  almost  no  footing  in  Ireland,  until 
near  the  end  of  the  16th  century.  To  prevent  its 
introduction  from  Scotland,  a  law  was  passed  in  the 
third  year  of  Philip  and  Mary,  (1556)  forbidding  the 
Scotch  to  settle  in  Ireland,  or  to  intermarry  with  the 
natives.  This  law  remained  in  force  throughout  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  was  only  repealed  in  1607.  The 
Scotch  Presbyterians  then  began  to  settle  in  the  north  of 
Ireland.  At  the  same  time  the  Xon-conformist  ministers 
of  London  (who  were  Presbyterian  in  principle)  engaged 
zealously  in  the  work  of  missions  among  the  Irish 
Papists.  Many  of  the  English  Puritans  took  refuge  in 
Ireland,  and  founded  colonies,  such  as  Londonderry  and 
Enniskillen.  Episcopacy,  though  long  before  estab- 
lished there,  had  but  few  adherents.  The  primate  of 
Ireland  was  Dr.  James  Usher,  distinguished  for  his 
learning  and  piety,  and  the  highly  liberal  character  of  his 
views  on  church  government  (Died,  1656.)  The  Scotch 
ministers  who  came  into  the  north  of  Ireland  were  zealous 
Presbyterians,  and  unwilling,  of  course,  to  consent  to 
Episcopal  ordination.  Through  the  ^visdom  of  Arch- 
bishop Usher  a  "plan  of  comprehension  "'  was  adopted. 


92  DEDUCTION    OF    PRESBYTERIAN 

by  which  the  Presbyterian  clergy  became  incorporated 
into  the  Establishment,  ordination  being  performed  by 
the  bishop  and  the  presbytery  together.  Presbyterian 
ministers  thus  ordained,  and  refusing  to  use  the  liturgy, 
held  livings,  notwithstanding,  in  the  Church  of  Ireland, 
and  sat  in  convocation  with  the  Episcopal  clergy.  A 
confession  of  faith  was  adopted,  (drawn  by  Dr.  Usher) 
embodying  the  rigid  Calvinistic  views  of  the  English 
Puritans,  (the  nine  Lambeth  Articles  of  1595)  both  with 
respect  to  doctrine  and  the  church  These  articles 
expressly  recognized  the  ministry  of  every  Christian 
Church,  and  made  no  mention  of  bishops  or  an  apostoli- 
cal succession.     (]N'eal,  i,  262.     Articles,  p.  448.) 

During  the  commonwealth.  Episcopacy  was  abolished 
in  Ireland,  as  in  England.  The  bishops  ceased  to  exer- 
cise their  functions,  and  ordination  passed  wholly  into 
the  hands  of  the  presbyteries.  On  the  restoration  of 
monarchy,  (1661)  Episcopacy  was  restored.  Those  min- 
isters who  had  been  ordained  by  presbyters  were  required 
to  be  re-ordained  by  bishops,  but  without  condemning 
their  previous  ordination  as  invalid.  (Neal,  il,  285.) 
The  reason  given  was  the  requirements  of  the  English 
canonical  law.  With  this  understanding,  many  of  the 
Presbyterian  clergy  consented  to  re-ordination,  and  con- 
tinued to  hold  livings  in  the  Irish  Church. 

Others  began  to  turn  their  eyes  to  America,  and  it 
was  at  this  time  that  the  earliest  Irish  Presbyterian  min- 
isters came  over.  The  first  Presbyterian  Church  in 
America  was  established  at  Kehoboth,  in  Maryland,  in 
1682,  by  Rev.  Francis  Mc  Kemie,  a  member  of  the  Lagan 
Presbytery,  in  Ireland.  The  first  presbytery  in  America 
(Phil.,  1705)  was  half  composed  of  Scotch-Irish  Presby- 
terian ministers. 


ORDINATIONS   IN   AMERICA.  93 

Now,  any  Presbyterian  minister  who  could  trace  back 
his  line  of  ordination  through  these  Scotch-Irish  presby- 
ters in  this  country,  and  their  predecessors  in  Ireland 
during  the  commonwealth,  would  probabl}^  come  in  con- 
tact with  an  Episcopal  bishop  some  time  during  the 
reign  of  Charles  I,  or,  say  from  1625  to  1645. 

This  deduction  of  Presbj^terian  ordinations  is  given, 
not  because  any  consequence  whatever  is  attached  to  it 
as  affecting  their  validity,  but  simply  as  a  matter  of  his- 
torical interest. 

SEC.  XXXY. —  ORGANIZATION   OF   THE  CHURCH  OF   ROME. 

The  Pomish  hierarchy  consists  of  the  pope,  claiming 
to  be  the  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth,  and  a  body  of  bishops, 
priests  and  deacons,  who  derive  their  authority  to  min- 
ister in  the  church  from  the  pope. 

The  claims  of  the  pope  to  govern  the  whole  church 
rest  on  two  assumptions  :  (1)  That  Peter  was  prince  of 
the  apostles,  and  head  of  the  church.  (2)  That  Peter 
was  the  first  bishop  of  Pome,  and  bequeathed  his  power 
to  his  successors.  In  support  of  the  first  assumption,  it 
is  said : 

a.  That  in  all  the  enumerations  of  the  apostles,  Peter 
is  mentioned  first,  as,  Mat.  :  x,  2 ;  "  ISTow,  the  names  of 
the  twelve  apostles  are  these :  The  first,  Simon,  who  is 
also  called  Peter."  Mark  :  i,  36  ;  "  Simon,  and  they  that 
were  with  him."  Acts  :  ii,  14;  ''Peter  standing  up  with 
the  eleven." 

h.  Christ  declared  that  he  would  build  His  church  on 
Peter,  and  give  him  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
(Mat. :  XVI,  18.) 

c.  Christ  taught  out  of  Peter's  ship.  (Luke :  V,  3.) 
Ordered  the  same  tribute  to  be  paid  for  himself  and  for 


94:  ORGANIZATION    OF   THE 

Peter,     (^fat.  :  xvii,  2.)     Prayed  particularly  for  Peter, 
that  bis  faith  should  not  fail.     (Luke  :  xxii,  32.) 

d.  Christ  committed  the  care  of  his  whole  church  to 
Peter,  saying,  "  Feed  my  sheep.  Feed  my  lambs."  (John  : 
XXI,  15.) 

To  this  (admitting  that  Peter  was  the  most  for- 
ward and  fluent  of  the  twelve,  and  generally  their  spokes- 
man) we  reply  : 

e.  That  Christ  expressly  forbade  any  gradation  of  rank 
among  tlie  twelve.  "  One  is  your  master,  even  Christ, 
and  all  ye  are  brethren."     (Mat.  :  23-8.) 

/  The  twelve  knew  nothing  of  any  primacy  in  Peter. 
The  dispute,  who  shoiild  be  greatest,  arose  after  the 
alleged  appointment  of  Peter  as  their  prince.  (Mat.  : 
XVI,  18.) 

g.  Paul  declared  that  he  was  fully  equal  to  Peter  — 
"  in  nothing  behind  the  very  chiefest  apostles,"  (2  Cor.  : 
XII,  11,)  and  rebuked  him  to  the  face.     (Gral. :  II,  11.) 

h.  Peter  had  no  idea  of  his  own  supremacy,  nor  ever 
claimed  any. 

i  Christ's  words  to  Peter,  "  Feed  ray  sheep,"  etc.,  instead 
of  being  his  commission  to  rule  over  the  whole  church, 
were  merely  an  assurance  that  he  was  not  put  out  of  the 
ministry  for  his  sin,  but  might  continue,  being  penitent, 
to  exercise  the  office  of  a  pastor. 

k.  Christ's  Church  was  not  to  be  built  upon  Peter,  but 
upon  the  truth,  wdiich  Peter  had  confessed,  viz.,  the 
divine  mission  of  Jesus  as  Messiah  {iizt  rdbrrj  rrj  Tzirpa. 
Mat. :  XVI,  18.)  There  is  a  true  sense,  however,  in 
which  the  church  was  built  upon  Peter,  viz.,  that  he  laid 
th.e  foundations  of  it  as  an  organized  society,  by  receiv- 
ing the  first  Jewish  and  the  first  Gentile  converts  to 
membership.     (Acts:  X[,  37,  x,  41.) 


CHURCH    OF   ROME.  95 

I.  The  power  of  the  keys  was  assigned  to  all  the  apos- 
tles, as  much  as  to  Peter.     (Mat. :  xviii,  18.) 

In  support  of  the  second  assumption,  viz.,  that  Peter 
was  bishop  of  Eome,  it  is  said  : 

a.  Peter  wrote  his  1st  Epistle  from  Rome.  1  Peter : 
V,  13  ;  "  The  church  that  is  at  Babylon,"  etc.  Where  the 
name  of  the  metropolis  of  eastern  Paganism  is  transferred 
to  the  metropolis  of  western  Paganism,  Babylon  being 
the  symbolic  name  for  any  great  persecuting  power. 
(See  Rev.  xiv,  8.) 

h.  Reliable  tradition  testifies  that  Peter  was  first  bishop 
of  Antioch,  and  then  for  twenty-five  years  bishop  of 
Rome,  where  he  suffered  martyrdom,  A.  D.  67.  To  this, 
it  is  replied  : 

c.  There  is  no  evidence  that  Babylon,  in  1  Peter  :  v, 
13,  is  used  symbolically  for  Rome.  Peter's  mission  was 
to  the  Jews,  of  whom  a  large  body  dwelt  in  Mesopota- 
mia, the  region  of  which  Babylon  had  formerly  been  the 
capital ;  and  though  no  city  of  that  name  then  existed, 
others  occupied  the  same  general  site.  It  is  unlikely 
that,  in  sending  a  fraternal  salutation,  Peter  should  dis- 
guise the  name  of  the  church  he  represents  under  a  sym- 
bolical alias. 

d.  The  evidence  that  Peter  was  bishop  of  Rome  is 
wholly  worthless.  No  allusion  to  Peter  occurs  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  nor  in  the  history  of  Paul's 
imprisonment  at  Rome.  Therefore,  he  could  riot  have 
been  in  Rome  previous  to  A.  D.  63.  No  writer  of  the 
first  three  centuries  refers  to  any  such  thing.  Irenieus 
speaks  of  the  Church  of  Rome  having  been  founded  by 
Peter  and  Paul,  which,  as  respects  the  latter,  at  least,  we 
know  was  false.  Eusebius  (A.  D.  325)  (deriving  his 
authoritv  from  the  Pseudo-Clementine  Recos^nitions  — 


96  PROCESS   OF   ORGANIZING 

a  heretical  romance  of  tlie  latter  part  of  the  2d  century,) 
relates  that  Peter  visited  Rome  in  the  reign  of  Claudius, 
(41-5-i)  and  founded  the  church  there.  Jerome  (A.  D. 
400)  is  the  first  to  speak  of  his  having  been  bishop  of 
that  city.  A  well-supported  tradition,  however,  given 
by  Clemens  Rom.,  Irenseus  and  Tertullian,  testifies  to  his 
having  suffered  martyrdom  at  Rome. 

e.  The  idea  of  any  one  of  the  apostles  being  bishop  of 
a  city  is  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  their  office, 
which  was  that  of  traveling  missionaries,  staying  in  any 
one  place  only  long  enough  to  plant  the  church,  and 
provide  for  its  training  by  a  suitable  native  ministry. 

The  conclusion  is,  that  the  pretensions  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome  are  an  imposture,  without  either  Scriptural  or 
historical  evidence. 

SEC.    XXXVI. —  PROCESS   OF   ORGANIZING    A   PARTICULAR 
CHURCH. 

Ministers  are  often  called,  in  our  newer  states  and  ter- 
ritories, to  organize  Presbyterian  Churches.  The 
method  to  be  pursued  is  this  : 

1.  In  ordinary  cases,  application  should  be  made  to 
the  proper  presbytery  for  the  appointment  of  a  commit- 
tee for  this  purpose.  But  any  evangelist  or  pastor  may 
organize  a  church,  on  his  own  responsibility. 

2.  At  the  time  fixed,  the  minister  or  committee  should 
receive  the  letters  of  those  prepared  to  join  on  certifi- 
cate, and  then  receive  on  examination  any  others,  bap- 
tizing such  as  had  not  been  baptized  in  infancy. 

rJ.  Those  thus  prepared  to  unite  should  then  agree  to 
walk  together  in  a  church  relation,  by  giving  their  assent 
to  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith,  expressed  in  a  com- 
pendious manner,  and   agreeing  to  a  form  of  covenant. 


A    PARTICULAR    CHURCH.  97 

after  which  thev  should  join  in  celebrating  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

4.  The  next  step  is  the  election  and  ordination  of 
elders  and  deacons,  according  to  the  provisions  in  ch. 
XIII.  of  Form'  of  Government.  Members  of  the  congre- 
gation, as  well  as  of  the  chnrch,  may,  if  so  agreed,  vote 
in  such  election.  (Digest,  p.  51.)  The  election  should 
be  for  a  limited  term.  The  office  of  ruling  elder  is  per- 
petual, but  the  period  of  service  depends  on  the  choice 
of  each  congregation.  (See  Overture  to  Presbyteries, 
Min.  of  Gen'l  A^ssembly,  1874,  p.  61.) 

5.  The  proceedings  should  then  be  reported  to  the 
presbytery,  at  its  next  meeting,  with  the  request  that  the 
Church  be  taken  under  its  care.  According  to  article 
second  of  the  platform  for  the  reunion  of  the  Presbyte- 
lian  Church,  as  well  as  according  to  the  dictates  of  expe- 
diency, no  new^  church  is  to  be  organized  on  the  accom- 
modation-plan.    (See  New  Digest,  p.  53.) 


i^pi^E^Dix: 


^FF^ENDIX. 


THE  ANGLICAN  SUCCESSION  —  CONSECRATION  OF  PARKER. 

At  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  November, 
1558,  there  were  only  fourteen  bishops  left  in  England  — 
all  Catholics ;  thirteen  of  them  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  supremacy,  and  were  ejected  from  their  dioceses,  or 
"  deprived.''  The  fourteentli,  Anthony  Kitchin,  Bishop 
of  Landaff,  thoui^h  still  remain ino^  in  the  Romish  com- 
munion,  took  the  oath  of  supremacy,  and  was  allowed  to 
keep  his  bishoprick.  There  was  no  arch-bishop  in 
England,  Cardinal  Pole,  Arch-bishop  of  Cantei-bury, 
having  died  the  same  day  v/ith  Queen  Mary  — Novem- 
ber 17th,  1558.  Three  of  the  old  titulaj-  bisho}^s  of 
Edward  YIth's  time,  were  still  living,  but  out  of  office, 
having  been  '■  deprived  "  by  Queen  Mary. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  extremely  anxious  to  restore  a 
regular  Episcopate  for  the  English  Church  ;  she  fixed  on 
Matthew  Parker,  who  had  been  chaplain  of  her  mother 
(Anne  Boleyn),  for  Arch-bishop  of  Canterbury.  After 
long  resistance  on  his  part,  he  consented  to  accept  the 
office,  and  was  elected  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  August 
1st,  1559.  The  queen  then  issued,  September  yth,  her 
mandate  to  six  bishops,  to  confirm  the  election  and  con- 


102  THE   ANGLICAN   SUCCESSION. 

secrate  the  arch-bishop  elect.  Four  of  them  were  Roman 
Catholics  and  refused  to  act;  the  other  two,  Barlow, 
formerly  Bishop  of  Bath,  and  Scorey,  ex-Bishop  of  Chi- 
chester (both  deprived  under  Queen  Mary),  were  insuffi- 
cient to  act  alone,  and  the  proposed  consecration  failed. 
On  the  6th  of  December,  1559,  a  second  mandate  was 
addressed  to  Kitchin,  Barlow,  Scorey,  Coverdale  ex- 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  two  suffragans,  and  an  Irish  Bishop, 
(Bale)  to  proceed  with  the  consecration.  On  the  17th  of 
December,  four  of  them,  viz.,  Barlow,  Scorey  and  Cover- 
dale  (all  "  deprived "  under  Queen  Mary,  and  not  yet 
restored),  and  one  of  the  suffragans  (John  Hodgskins, 
suffragan  of  Bedford),  performed  the  consecration.  From 
Parker  were  derived  all  the  subsequent  consecrations  of 
bishops  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  so  of  America. 
The  validity  of  this  transaction  is,  therefore,  in  the  Epis- 
copal view  of  the  matter,  a  question  of  supreme  import- 
ance. That  Parker  was,  by  a  valid  and  canonical  conse- 
cration, made  arch-bishop,  may  be  easily  admitted  as 
probable;  but  in  a  case  on  which  such  momentous  con- 
sequences are  made  to  hang,  not  prohahility,  but  positive 
demonstration  is  justly  required,  and  demonstration,  as 
appears  from  the  following  particulars,  is  signally  want- 
ing : 

.  1.  The  four  consecrators  were  extremely  doubtful  of 
their  right  to  act,  and  only  did  so  after  having  obtained 
an  opinion  from  several  lawj-ers  that  they  were  compe- 
tent. This  would  seem  insufficient  warrant  for  the  per- 
formance of  an  act  which  is  essential,  as  is  held,  to  the 
perfection  of  the  apostolic  succession. 

2.  Almost  from  the  time  of  tlie  consecration  of  Parker, 
its  validity  was  publicly  denied,  and  the  evidence  to 
warrant  it  called  for  in  vain.     It  was  denied  that  any 


COKSECKATION    OF    PAKKER.  108 

such  consecration  ever  took  place  ;  and,  if  it  did,  it  was 
affirmed  that,  tor  several  reasons,  the  act  was  latally 
defective. 

8.  This  was  so  generally  the  impression  that,  eight 
years  after,  viz.,  in  1566,  the  parliament  thought  it  nec- 
essary to  declare  the  act  to  have  been  valid,  all  errors 
and  informalities  to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding.  But 
if  the  act  was  ecclesiastically  invalid,  no  retrospective  act 
of  parliament  could  remedy  the  fatal  defect. 

4.  The  evidence  alleged  for  the  consecration  of  Parker, 
on  the  17th  of  December,  1559,  was  Parker's  own  "  reg- 
ister^  This  was  never  produced  till  1618,  more  than 
fifty  years  later.  It  was  then  hastily  shown  to  certain 
Komish  priests,  to  silence  their  objections ;  when  they 
desired  the  opportunity  for  a  second  and  more  deliberate 
examination,  it  was  refused. 

5.  The  record  of  Parker's  consecration  contained  in 
this  register  differed  so  strangely  from  the  ordinary  form 
of  such  documents,  as  to  throw  great  suspicion  upon  it. 
Both  Eomish  and  Presb}' terian  writers  charged  that  it 
was  -a  palpable  forgery. 

6.  Admitting,  however,  that  a  form  of  consecration 
for  Arch-bishop  Parker  was  actually  gone  through  with, 
on  the  I7th  of  December,  1559,  there  is  great  reason  to 
doubt  whether  it  supplied  the  necessary  conditions  for 
the  transmission  of  an  "apostolic  succession,''  in  the 
Episcopal  sense.  The  only  consecrator-  was  Barlow, 
ex-Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  who  had  been  ''  deprived  " 
under  Queen  Mary.  Scorey,  Coverdale  and  Hodgskins 
were  only  ^^  assistants.''^  Now  there  is  great  room  for 
doubt,  whether  Barlow  himself  had  ever  been  conse- 
crated. No  record  of  it  could  ever  be  produced,  though 
repeatedly  challenged.      He  was  elected  Bishop  of  St. 


104  THE    ORDINATION 

Asaph's,  in  1535,  bat  resigned  before  consecration.  He 
was,  in  1548,  made  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells ;  and  it 
would  seem  very  likely  that  his  previous  ^^consecration  " 
was  taken  for  granted,  and  nothing  said  about  it.  His 
own  frequently  expressed  opinion  was,  that  '■^consecra- 
tion "  was  wholly  unnecessary,  so  that  it  would  have  occa- 
sioned him  no  trouble  to  accept  the  See  of  Bath  and 
Wells  without  any  such  formality.  But,  if  Barlow  had 
never  been  consecrated,  he  was  entirely  incompetent  to 
impart  Episcopal  grace  to  Parker. 

This  brief  and  imperfect  analysis  of  the  argument  in 
the  case  shows,  that  however  probable  the  consecration  of 
Parker,  on  the  17th  of  December,  1559,  may  be,  the  evi- 
dence falls  entirely  short  of  that  demonstration  we  have 
a  rio'ht  to  demand. 

B 

THE    ORDINATION  OF  TIMOTHY. 

The  whole  case  of  Timothy's  ordination  is  as  follows  : 
Timothy  was  set  apart  to  his  office,  it  is  admitted,  by 
the  joint  action  of  Paul  and  a  presbytery  ;  but,  it  is 
claimed,  that  the  whole  authority  to  ordain  resided  in 
Paul,  and  that  the  elders  merely  laid  on  hands  to  signify 
their  concurrence.  In  support  of  this,  it  has  been  usual 
to  laj^  great  stress  on  the  distinction  between  the  two 
prepositions  dia  and  ii—a.  2  Tim. :  I,  6  ;  "  Stir  up  the 
gift  of  God  which  is  in  thee,  by  the  putting  on  of  my 
hands  "  —  dia  rr^q  e-cOrjffscb:;  xrX.  1  Tim. :  IV,  14 ;  "  which 
was  given  thee  by  prophecy,  WITH  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  the  presbytery  "  — //.era  -r^?  e-tO-qatio^  y-X ;  '^  <5£a," 
it  is  said,  impl34ng  efficient  action,  wlii*le  "/Jtsra"  merely 
signifies  concurrence. 
To  this  we  reply  : 


OF    TIMOTHY.  105 

1.  That  this  distinction  is  unsupported  bj  grammat- 
ical usage  —  the  two  prepositions  being  often  used  inter- 
changeably. Thus,  Acts  :  XV,  4 ;  "  Tliey  related  ichat 
things  God  had  done  ivitli  them  "  (.asr  ab-chv)  ;  compare  with 
Acts:  XV,  12  ;  "  what  signs  and  wonders  Godliad  wrought 
among  the  Gentiles  BY  them  "  {dl  adzaju) ;  so,  also,  in  the 
vulgate,  "  cum  "  and  "^;er"  ;  the  same  transaction  being 
referred  to  in  both  cases.  This  presents  a  precise  parallel 
to  1  Tim.  :  IV,  14,  and  2  Tim.  :  i,  6. 

2.  The  ordaining  body  was  a  presbytery  or  body  of 
elders,  of  whom  Paul  made  one,  and  all  took  part  in 
conferring  the  ofiice.  It  is  claimed  that  this  was  Timo- 
thy's consecration  as  apostle  or  bishop.  In  that  case, 
according  to  Episcopal  canons,  mere  elders  had  no  right 
to  take  any  part  in  the  transaction,  even  to  express  con- 
currence. At  the  ordination  of  a  presbyter  by  the  bishop, 
other  presbyters  do  lay  on  hands  for  that  purpose. 

To  evade  this  difficulty,  it  is  claimed,  that  all  this  pres- 
bytery consisted  of  apostles^  since  the  apostles  were  also 
elders.  This  is  a  mere  assumption,  with  no  shadow  of 
evidence.  "  Presbj- tery  "  means'a  body  of  presb3^ters  or 
elders.  Where  one  apostle  is  expressly  mentioned,  and 
those  acting  with  him  are  distinguished  as  the  presbytery^ 
the  inference  is  plain,  that  the}^  were  not  "apostles.''  If 
it  were  related  that  a  certain  military  operation  was  con- 
ducted b}^  a  "  sergeant  and  ten  soldiers,''  though  it  is  a 
fact  that  a  sergeant  is  a  soldier,  the  inference  would  be 
clear  that  the  ten  others  were  not  sergeants. 

If  this  ground  be  taken,  moreover,  and  it  is  the  only 
alternative  to  acknowledging  an  ordination  by  presbyters, 
then  the  distinction  so  much  insisted  on  between  dia  and 
iiera  must  be  given  up,  since  the  gift^  on  that  supposition, 


lOH  THE   OHDINATIOX 

was  conferred  no  more  by  the  bands  of  Paul,  than  by 
those  of  the  other  apostles. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  this  was  Timothj-'s  ordination, 
NOT  1)1/  the preshytenj  but  to  the preshyterate  ("Neglect  not 
the  oliice  of  the  presb3'terate,  which  was  given  thee  by 
the  laying  on  of  hands."  1  Tim.  :  iv,  14),  and  for  this 
reading,  Calvin's  authority  is  quoted.     (Inst.  :  IV,  ill,  16.) 

We  reply,  that  on  the  ground  of  this  ordination,  Tim- 
othy is  directed  to  do  all  those  acts  which  are  claimed  to 
belong  exclusively  to  the  Episcopal  office,  viz.,  to  ordain, 
to  govern  and  to  discipline,  as  appears  in  the  Epistles, 
passim.  This  evasion,  therefore,  being  obviously  fatal  to 
the  claims  of  the  Prelacy,  is  seldom  insisted  on.  In  his 
later  and  better  considered  Commentary  on  the  Epistles 
to  Timothy,  Calvin  rejects  this  interpretation. 

The  whole  difficulty,  then,  attending  the  Episcopal 
theory  of  this  transaction,  may  be  summed  up  thus  : 

i.  If  it  is  said  this  was  Timothy's. ordination  as^res- 
hyter,  he  is  I'equired,  on  the  ground  of  it  (for  no  other 
ordination  or  consecration  is  pretended),  to  perform 
"Episcopal  "  acts. 

2.  That  if  it  was  his  consecration  as  bishop,  presbyters 
took  part  in  it,  which  would  be  wholly  inadmissible. 
According  to  church  canons  and  the  Episcopal  prayer 
book,  three  bishops  are  required  to  consecrate  a  bishop. 
Presbyters  can  have  no  hand  in  the  service. 

3.  That  the  only  escape  from  these  difficulties  is  the 
gratuitous  supposition  that  all  the  "  presbytery,"  who 
took  part  with  Paul,  may  also  have  been  apostles ;  in 
which  case,  the  favorite  distinction  between  dia^  as  signi- 
fying efficient  mediura^  and  //sra,  as  signifying  only  con- 
currence, must  be  abandoned. 

The  conclusion  is,   that  Timothy  was  ordained  as  a 


OF   TOIOTKY.  107 

presbyter  or  elder,  by  Paul  and  a  number  of  presbyters, 
with  a  special  commission  as  an  evangelist — a  traveling 
assistant  to  the  apostles.  He  was  sent  from  place  to 
place,  as  the  needs  of  the  churches  required.  By  Paul's 
direction,  he  remained  some  time  at  Ephesus,  which 
occasioned  the  fable  that  he  was  bishop  of  that  city. 
But  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  (A.  D.  61-68)  makes 
no  mention  of  him  or  an}^  other  person  as  bishop  ;  and 
in  Paul's  address  to  the  Elders  of  Ephesus  (A.  D.  6S\ 
he  commits  to  them,  collectively,  as  hishoj^ts,  the  entire 
spiritual  oversight  of  the  flock.     (Acts  :  xx,  28.) 

Prof  Jacobs  thinks  the  ^^gift'^  conferred  on  Timothy 
was  a  supernatural  yapiaim^  and  that  this  could  be  con- 
ferred only  by  an  apostle  :  but  there  is  no  allusion  in  the 
history  of  Timothy  to  his  possessing  any  yapiG>jAxa ; 
neither  would  elders  have  taken  any  part  in  conferrino* 
such  supernatural  endowments  upon  him.  "  Grift "  here 
means  simply  office.  (Jacobs,  p.  118.)  The  yapioim-a^ 
as  has  been  already  seen,  were  z^/iofficial  gifts,  conferred 
miscellaneously  on  the  disciples.  This  was  a  formal  des- 
ignation of  Timothy  to  the  work  of  an  evangelist. 

c 

EISE    OF   NON-CONFORMITY   IN    ENGLAND. 

The  Eeformation  in  England,  being  conducted  by  the 
government,  and  largely  on  political  considerations,  pro- 
ceeded on  the  principle  of  changing  existing  usat^es  as 
little  as  possible.  The  authority  of  the  pope  was  re- 
nounced, the  monasteries  suppressed,  and  Cranmer's 
Bible  published  with  the  royal  sanction.  The  king 
became  head  of  the  Church  of  England.  This  was  the 
only  change  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.      Most 


108  RISE  OF  NON-CONFOKMITY  IN   ENGLAND. 

Romish   doctrines  and   ceremonies    remained    in   force, 
under  the  penalties  of  the  "Six  Bloody  Articles." 

On  the  accession  of  Edward  YI.  (1547),  the  Eeforma- 
tion  was  further  advanced  by  abolishing  the  mass,  remov- 
ing images  from  the  churches,  and  requiring  the  com- 
munion to  be  administered  under  both  kinds.  A  book 
of  homilies,  consisting  of  twelve  discourses  on  points  of 
Christian  faith  and  morals,  was  published  for  the  use  of 
the  clergy ;  and  the  liturgy  was  compiled  from  four  Rom- 
ish mass  books.  In  almost  everything  else,  the  former 
rites  and  usages  remained  unchanged.  An  act  of  parlia- 
ment, in  1549,  required  the  clergy,  under  heavy  penalties, 
to  conform  to  the  prescribed  ritual. 

But  while  the  hierarchy,  and  the  governing  classes 
generally,  were  content  with  the  changes  effected,  a  large 
body  of  the  lower  clergy,  and  of  the  people,  who  had 
engaged  in  the  reformation  as  a  religious  movement,  were 
offended  that  so  much  was  left,  savoring  of  the  old  super- 
stition. They  objected,  in  particular,  to  the  priestly 
vestments,  to  the  cross  in  baptism,  to  the  ring  in  mar- 
ria<Te,  the  use  of  sponsors,  and  kneeling  at  the  Lord's 
Supper.  They  desired  a  shorter  liturgy,  with  some 
allowance  for  free  prayer.  They  objected  to  putting  the 
apocrypha  on  a  par  with  canonical  scripture,  and  to  the 
obligation  of  certain  fasts  and  festivals.  They  denied 
that  bishops  were  an  order  superior  to  presbyters,  or  had 
any  exclusive  authority  for  ordaining.  In  most,  if  not 
all  these  respects,  further  changes  were  contemplated  by 
the  leading  English  reformers,  and  .would,  no  doubt, 
have  been  effected,  but  for  the  premature  death  of  the 
young  king. 

On  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  in  1553,  and  the 
counter-reformation  that  followed,  large  numbers  of  the 


RISE  OF  XOX-CONTORMITY   IN"  ENGLAND.  109 

English  Protestants,  iiiclu<ling  several  bishops  and  many 
eminent  divines,  took  refuge  in  Germany,  Switzerland, 
and  Holland.  A  portion  of  these  exiles,  who  settled  in 
Frankfort,  organized  a  congregation  hy  themselves,  being 
permitted  to  meet  for  worship  in  the  French  Church. 
They  conducted  their  service  according  to  King  Edward's 
liturgy,  amended  and  simplified,  and  leaving  a  part  of  the 
service  for  free  prayer.  Of  this  church,  John  Knox  was 
one  of  the  pastors,  and  John  Calvin  a  friend  and  coun- 
selor. Its  harmony  was  soon  broken  up  by  the  arrival 
of  other  exiles,  who  were  zealous  for  King  Edward's 
unchanged  liturgy,  especially  Dr.  Cox,  who  had  been 
tutor  to  that  prince  —  the  same  from  whom  Elizabeth 
afterwards  wrested  Ely  Place,  with  the  threat  of 
"  unfrocking  "  him,  if  he  resisted.  The  intrigues  of  this 
churchman  led  to  the  division  of  the  society,  and  the 
banishment  of  John  Knox  from  the  city.  The  "  Puri- 
tans," as  they  now  began  to.  be  called,  withdrew  to 
Greneva,  and  there  established  an  English  Church,  with  a 
Presbyterian  polity,  and  a  service  of  prayer  drawn  up  for 
them  by  Calvin. 

On  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1558,  these  Puri- 
tan exiles  returned  home,  strongly  imbued  with  the  leaven 
of  Presbyterian  sentiments  ;  and  the  struggle  between 
the'Non-conformists  and  the  hierarchy  was  transferred  to 
England  itself.  The  queen  was  not  merely  opposed  to 
any  further  reformation,  but  desired  to  restore  some  part 
of  the  abolished  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
She  was  opposed  to  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  to  preach- 
ing and  "  prophesyings,"  as  the  meetings  of  ministers 
for  mutual  improvement  were  called.  She  desired  to 
retain  images  and  crucifixes  in  the  churches.  The  arti- 
cles were  reduced  to  thirty-nine,  by  cutting  ofi" those  relat- 


110  RISE  OF  XOX-CONFORMITY  IN  ENGLAND. 

ing  to  eschatolog}''.  The  liturgy  was  reformed  backwards, 
and  an  "  Act  of  Uniformity  "  forbade,  under  heavy  penal- 
ties, the  least  deviation  from  the  prescribed  service. 

The  main  principle  at  issue,  between  the  Puritans  and 
the  "  Court  Reformers,"  concerned  the  authority  of  Scrip- 
ture. The  latter  held  that  the  Word  of  God  was  an 
infallible  rule  of  faith,  but  not  of  practice  ;  that  many 
things  relating  to  discipline  and  worship  are  left  unde- 
termined in  Scripture  ;  that  in  regard  to  these,  the  civil 
magistrate  has  the  right  to  decide,  and  that  the  practice 
of  the  first  Christian  centuries  was  the  standard  to  which 
the  church  ought  to  conform. 

These  principles  were  maintained  with  great  learning 
and  ability  by  Richard  Hooker,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  Pol- 
ity. On  the  other  hand,  the  Puritans  held  that  the  Word 
of  Grod  was  a  sufficient  guide  in  respect  to  worship  and 
discipline,  as  well  as  faith ;  that  nothing  was  to  be 
required  in  divine  service,  but  what  was  express^,  or 
b}^  necessary  inference,  contained  in  Scripture  ;  and  that 
as  regards  indifferent  things,,  the  right  of  prescribing  was 
vested  in  the  spiritual  officers  of  the  church,  and  not  in 
the  civil  magistrate. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle,  they  rejected  the 
government  of  bishops,  and  all  uncommanded  rites  and 
ceremonies  in  worship,  and  desired  to  reduce  the  charch 
to  a  Presbyterial  simplicity  in  ritual  and  polity.  The 
energetic  despotism  of  Elizabeth,  which  kept  down  the 
Papists  with  one  hand,  suppressed  the  Puritans  with  the 
other ;  and  no  organized  non-conformity  dared  show 
itself  in  her  reign.  A  considerable  bod}^  of  the  best  min- 
isters in  the  kingdom  (in  London,  thirty-seven  out  of  one 
hundred)  refused  to  wear  the  vestments,  and  were  deprived 
of  their  livings.     By  some  of  these  a  presbytery  was 


THE   ORDEP.S   OF   WANDSWORTH.  Ill 

organized,  in  the  year  1572,  near  London,  but  was  unable 
to  maintain  any  open  existence.  Another  portion  of  the 
Non-conformists,  headed  by  Robert  Brown,  an  nnworthy 
leader,  wdio  afterwards  proved  apostate  both  in  fjiith  and 
life,  pushed  their  opposition  to  tlie  hierarchy  to  the 
extreme  of  church  democracy,  and  under  the  name  of 
"  Brownists,"  or  "  Independents,"  organized  a  congrega- 
tion, which  was  soon  driven  bv  the  bishops  to  take  ref- 
uge in  Holland.  But  there  remained  within  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  conforming  outwardly  to  the  demands  of 
the  act  of  uniformity,  a  large  body  of  ministers  and 
Christians,  Presbyterian  in  sentiment,  waiting  for  the 
dawn  of  the  day  of  religious  liberty. 

THE  ORDERS  OF  WANDSWORTH. 

The  strong  sentiment  among  a  considerable  body  of 
the  English  clergy  in  favor  of  Presbytery,  forbidden  to 
express  itself  openly  by  the  rigor  of  the  act  of  uniform- 
ity, took  shape  in  a  secret  attempt  at  Presbyterian  orga- 
nization. These  ministers  desired  a  simplified  service 
of  prayer,  greater  liberty  of  preaching  and  "  prophesy- 
ing," and  exemption  from  various  usages  characteristic 
of  the  old  Pomish  worship.  To  all  such  demands  the 
queen  was  inflexibly  opposed.  She  thought  the  Refor- 
mation had  already  proceeded  too  far,  and  dreaded  the 
growth  of  Puritanism,  as  an  element  of  disturbance  in 
the  kingdom.  Anj^  variation  from  the  requirements  of 
the  act  of  uniformity,  even  the  slightest,  was  punished 
with  fine  and  imprisonment.  For  neglecting  the  sign  of 
the  cross  in  baptism,  or  the  ring  in  the  marriage  service, 
devout  and  laborious  pastors  were  torn  from  their  fami- 


112  THE   ORDERS   OF   WANDSWORTH. 

lies  and  flocks,  and  left  to  pine  for  years  in  filthy  dun- 
geons. 

The  center  of  the  Presbyterian  sentiment  was  London 
and  the  vicinity.  On  the  20th  of  November,  15'r2,  a 
number  of  the  ministers  met  secretly  in  the  village  of 
Wandsworth,  in  the  suburbs,  and  organized  themselves 
into  a  presbytery.  They  agreed  upon  a  confession  of 
faith,  and  rules  of  government  and  discipline,  and  elected 
a  body  of  ruling  elders.  The  clerical  members  were  the 
following : 

1.  Eev.  John  Field,  lecturer  at  Wandsworth.  He 
was  fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  and  preacher  at 
St.  Giles,  London  :  an  eloquent,  learned  and  pious 
divine.  He  was  committed  to  a  loathsome  dungeon  in 
Newgate  Prison,  7th  of  July,  1572,  on  the  charge  of  non- 
conformity. He  was  afterwards  suspended  from  the 
ministry  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  ordered  to 
remove  to  ^  distant  part  of  the  country. 

2.  Eev.  Thomas  Wilcox,  student  of  St.  John's  College, 
Oxford,  and  much  distinguished  as  a  preacher  and  divine 
in  London.  He  was  the  author  of  numerous  works, 
practical,  controversial  and  expository.  For  disapprov- 
ing the  government  of  bishops,  and  the  service  of  the 
book  of  prayer,  he  was  repeatedly  suspended  from  the 
ministry,  and  shut  up  with  the  felons  in  Newgate  Prison. 

3.  Eev.  Nicholas  Crane,  student  of  Cambridge,  and 
minister  of  Eoehamton,  near  London,  a  learned  and  emi- 
nent Non-conformist.  He  was  silenced  by  Bishop  Ayl- 
mer,  one  of  the  bitterest  persecutors  of  the  Puritans, 
several  times  thrown  into  prison,  and  finally  died  in 
Newgate,  in  1588. 

4.  Eev.  William  Bonham.  5.  Eev.  Nicholas  Stan- 
den.     Thev  were  associated  with  Mr,  Crane  in  their  trial 


THE   ORDERS   OF   WANDSWORTH.  113 

before  the  Bishop  of  London ;  both  suffered  repeated 
imprisonments,  and  were  kept  in  Newgate  by  Whitgift, 
after  the  Lords  of  the  Council  had  ordered  their  release. 

6.  Rev.  Robert  Johnson,  fellow  of  the  King's  College, 
and  domestic  chaplain  to  the  Lord  Keeper  Bacon,  father 
of  the  Chancellor.  In  July,  1571,  he  was  suspended  for 
non-conformity,  by  Arch-bishop  Parker.  Making  some 
concessions,  he  was  restored.  Not  long  after  he  was 
again  suspended  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  thrown 
into  prison,  for  marrying  Leojiard  Morris  and  Agnes 
Miles,  without  using  the  ring.  He  fell  dangerously  ill 
in  Newgate,  as  so  many  others  did  in  those  pestilential 
dungeons.  The  Lords  of  the  Council,  on  his  petition, 
ordered  his  release.  But  the  bishop  managed  to  evade 
compliance,  till,  worn  out  by  want  and  suffering,  tliis 
martyr,  for  the  rights  of  conscience,  died  in  the  Gate 
House  Prison. 

7.  Rev.  John  Gardiner,  rector  of  Maiden,  in  Sussex. 
He  was  deprived  of  his  living,  and  thrown  into  prison, 
by  Bishop  Alymer,  for  preaching  without  a  surplice. 
He  contracted  the  jail  fever,  from  the  effects  of  which  he 
languished  for  years.  His  pathetic  petition  to  the  Bishop 
of  London  to  take  pity  upon  him,  and  upon  his  sufferino- 
wife  and  children,  might  have  touched  the  heart  even  of 
an  arch-bishop. 

8.  Rev.  Thomas  Barber,  minister  of  Bow  Church 
London,  and  the  beloved  pastor  of  a  very  large  cono-re- 
gation,  to  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  preach  four  times 
a  week.  But,  with  Arch-bishop  Whitgift,  the  souls  of 
the  people  were  of  very  little  consequence,  compared 
with  white  surplices.  He  shut  up  this  faithful  preacher 
for  several  years,  and  left  the  flock  to  such  ignorant,  pro- 


114  THE   ORDERS   OF  WANDSWORTH. 

fane  and  scandalous  priests  as  were  usually  intruded  into 
the  place  of  suspended  pastors. 

9.  Rev.  Henry  Smith,  student  of  Lincoln  College, 
Oxford,  and  commonly  called,  for  his  eloquence,  the 
"  silver-tongued  Smith."  Crowds  were  attracted  to  his 
ministry,  near  Temple  Bar,  London.  For  some  slight 
deviation  from  the  service  book.  Bishop  Alymer  put  an 
iron  padlock  on  that  silver  tongue  of  his.  But  the  favor 
of  the  Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh,  who  was  one  of  his 
parishioners,  seems  to  have  screened  him  from  further 
molestation. 

10.  Rev.  AVilliam  Charke,  fellow  of  Peter  House,  Cam- 
bridge. For  denying  the  divine  right  of  bishops,  he  was 
called  before  Whitgift,  and  required  to  recant.  On  his 
refusal,  he  was  expelled  from  the  University.  The  favor 
of  Cecil,  who  was  Chancellor  of  the  University,  shielded 
him  for  a  time  ;  but  the  arch-bishop  stuck  faithfully  to 
his  skirts,  and  a  short  time  after  found  a  chance  to  shut 
him  up  altogether. 

11.  Rev.  Stephen  Egerton,  student  of  Oxford,  and 
minister  of.Blackfriars,  London,  spoken  of  by  Anglican 
writers  as  "eminent  for  learning  and  godliness."  He 
zealously  promoted  the  "  prophesyings,"  and  commonly 
acted  as  moderator.  For  saying  "  you  "  in  the  baptismal 
service,  where  he  ought.to  have  said  "  thou''  he  was  first 
suspended  from  the  ministry,  and  then  thrown  into  the 
Fleet  Prison,  where  he  languished  for  many  years. 

12th  and  last,  for  this  was  an  apostolic  presbytery. 
Rev.  Thomas  Edmunds,  a  man  distinguished  for  his  tal- 
ents and  virtues,  but  who  occupied,  perhaps,  in  the  col- 
leo-e  a  little  the  position  of  Thomas,  the  doubter.  He 
was  a  Puritan,  without  being  a  zealot  --  a  moderate  Non- 
conformist.    But   his    moderation    could    not  save  liim 


THE    ORDERS   OF   WANDSWORTH.  115 

from  the  relentless  clutches  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  "  Little 
Black  Husband."  Wbitgift  pounced  upon  him  for  some 
slight  irregularity,  and  threw  him  into  prison.  After 
some  time  he  made  his  submission,  and  came  out,  and 
died,  at  length,  rector  of  All  Hallows  Church,  London. 
Here  was  a  presb3^tery  to  be  proud  of!  A  convention 
of  felons  !  A  sjmod  of  jail  birds  I  Thev  came  bj  stealth 
to  the  place  of  rendezvous,  and  trembled  to  hear  the 
sheriff's  knock  on  the  door.  They  were  pallid  from 
loathsome  dungeons.  Thej  had  hardly  combed  the 
straw  of  Kewgate  out  of  their  hair.  The  marks  of  iron 
were  on  their  wrists.  But  they  were  felons  whose  con- 
sciences were  prisoners  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  w-ho 
preached  the  everlasting  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
These  jail  birds  were  the  sons  of  English  universities. 
They  wrote  classic  Greek  ;  they  held  profound  debates 
in  the  Latin  tongue  ;  they  w^ere  familiar  with  the  fathers 
and  the  school  divines  ;  they  were  the  friends  and  cor- 
respondents of  Calvin,  and  Beza,  and  Melancthon  ;  they 
w^ere  the  uDconscious  and  unrecoo-nized  saviors  of  Eno-- 
lish  liberty  from  the  fatal  grasp  of  the  royal  prerogative. 
It  was  they  and  their  fellow  Presbyterians,  who  alone 
saved  the  Protestanism  of  the  realm  from  the  swellino- 

o 

tide  of  the  Catholic  reaction.  Torj'  and  Liberal,  Mr. 
Hume,  Mr.  Buckle,  and  Mr.  Froude,  alike  make  this 
acknowledgment  in  their  favor.  Such  were  the  men 
who,  three  hundred  years  ago,  attempted  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  Presbyterianism  in  England.  Tlie 
attempt  proved,  for  the  time,  wholly  abortive.  The  vioi- 
lance  of  the  bishops'  officers  was  such,  that,  no  sooner 
was  the  fire  of  religious  liberty  kindled,  than  it  was 
trampled  out.  By  the  year  1571:  the  "  prophesyings  " 
were  everywhere  suppressed,  and  it  was  not  till  the  over- 


116  RISE   AND   FALL   OF 

throw  of  the  monarch}^,  seventy-five    years   later,   that 
Presbytery  became  an  established  fact  in  England. 

E 

RISE  AND  FALL  OF  PRESBYTERY  IN  ENGLAND. 

Almost  all  the  reformers,  both  in  England  and  on  the 
continent,  from  Wiclif  and  Huss  to  Luther,  Knox,  Jew- 
ell, Grindal,  Coverdale,  and  all  the  early  Protestant 
divines,  denied  the  divine  right  of  bishops  as  an  order 
superior  to  presbyters.  They  found  but  two  classes  of 
permanent  church  officers  in  the  New  Testament,  viz., 
bishops  or  presbyters,  and  deacons.  Wheresoever  men 
aimed  at  a  restoration  of  Christian  doctrine  and  worship, 
they  also  insisted  on  a  return  to  Scriptural  simplicity  in 
the  government  of  the  church.  In  Scotland  and  on  the 
continent,  Presbyterianism  established  itself  at  once,  and 
the  hierarchy  was  overthrown.  In  England,  on  politi- 
cal grounds.  Episcopacy  was  retained.  Until  the  reign 
of  Charles  I.,  therefore,  Presbyterianism  existed  in 
England  only  as  a  latent  conviction  ;  and  the  struggle 
between  king  and  parliament  was  well  advanced,  (1610) 
before  it  appeared  in  the  field  of  controversy.  The 
Eomanizing  and  despotic  measures  of  Arch-bishop  Laud, 
and  the  support  given  to  the  king's  arbitrary  proceedings 
by  the  Episcopal  clergy,  had  nursed  among  the  more 
serious  part  of  the  nation  a  profound  disgust  for  that 
form  of  government.  The  successful  establishment  of 
Presbytery  in  Scotland  was  exerting  a, silent  influence, 
and  Scotch  divines  were  in  close  correspondence  with  the 
friends  of  popular  rights  in  England. 

The  struggle  of  arras  was  preceded  by  a  war  of 
pamphlets,  between  the  friends 'of  Episcopacy  and  Pres- 


PKESBYTEEY   IX    ENGLAND.  117 

b}'ter^^  The  most  famous  of  these  was  the  controversy 
between  Bishop  Hall  and  others,  on  the  one  side,  and  five 
Presb}- terian  divines,  under  the  name  of  "  Smectjmnns," 
on  the  other. "^ 

This  was  followed  by  the  "  Eoot  and  Branch  Peti- 
tion," signed  by  fifteen  thousand  citizens  of  London, 
praying  the  House  of  Commons  to  "  do  away  with  the 
government  of  the  church  by  arch -bishops,  and  bishops, 
with  all  its  dependences,  roots  and  branches."  A  letter 
was,  at  the  same  time,  addressed  to  the  Scotch  General 
Assembly,  stating  that  "  the  desire  of  the  most  Godly 
and  considerable  part  among  us  is,  that  the  Presbyte- 
rian government,  which  hath  just  and  evident  founda- 
tion both  in  the  Word  of  God  and  the  religious  reason, 
may  be  established  throughout  the  entire  kingdom." 
This  was  designed  as  a  step  towards  securing  the  aid  of 
the  Scots  in  the  coming  struggle. 

The  civil  war  was  opened  by  the  king's  setting  up  his 
standard  at  Nottingham,  on  the  22d  of  August,  1642, 
the  Long  Parliament  being  at  the  time  in  session.  On 
the  oth  of  Kovember,  1643,  the  Episcopal  hierarchy  and 
government  was  abolished  by  act  of  parliament,  an  act 
having  been  previously  passed  for  calling  "an  assembly 
of  learned  and  Godly  divines,  for  settling  the  govern- 
ment and  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England."  On  the 
abolition  of  Episcopacy,  there  rem.ained  no  provision  for 
the  ordination  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  The  bishops 
all  adhered  to  the  royal  side,  and  refused  to  ordain  any 
persons  not  Episcopal  in  sentiment.  The  universities 
also  were  closed,  and  no  candidates  were  forthcominof. 


*  The  five  were  Stephen  Marshall,  Edmund  Calamy,  Thomas  Young,  Matthew 
Newcomen,  and  William  Spurstow.  This  trick  of  words  was  not  very  uncom- 
mon at  the  time. 


118  RISE   AND   FALL   OF 

The  Westminster  Assembly,  therefore,  by  order  of  par- 
liament, Oct.  12,  16^3,  appointed  a  committee  of  twenty- 
three  presbyters,  to  examine  and  ordain  men  for  the  min- 
istry ;  and  all  ordained  by  them,  or  a  quorum  of  them, 
(seven)  were  to  be  reputed  ministers,  in  full  standing,  of 
THE  Church  of  England.  It  was  universally  taken 
for  granted  that  "  the  Church  of  England "  remained, 
and  that  the  only  change  was  in  the  form  of  govern- 
ment. This  w^as  the  commencement  of  Presbyterian 
ordinations  in  England. 

In  the  year  1616,  parliament  directed  that  all  Eng- 
land should  be  divided  into  presbyteries,  rnling  elders 
everj^where  ordained,  and  Presbyterial  and  synodical 
government  organized.  The  scheme  was  at  first  set  up 
for  three  years,  and  then  indefinitely;  but,  in  fact,  it 
never  established  itself,  except  in  Lancashire  and  in  the 
City  of  London,  where  the  Presb3/terian  interest  was 
as  it  still  continues  to  be,  stronger  than  in  all  the  rest  of 
England  together.  The  reason  why  the  new  polity  was 
not  organized  throughout  the  realm  was  that  the  Pres- 
byterian clergy  were  dissatisfied  with  the  Erastian  ele- 
ment incorporated  by  parliament  with  it.  The  Com- 
mons claimed  the  right  of  supervising  and  controlling 
the  discipline  of  the  church.  In  each  ecclesiastical 
province  there  was  to  be  a  body  of  commissioners,  whose 
sanction  should  be  necessary  to  every  act  of  discipline, 
and  to  w^hom  every  person  excluded  from  the  church 
should  have  the  right  of  appeal.  This  provision  was  so 
objectionable  to  the  clergy,  that  they  i-efused  to  orga- 
nize under  it.  They  insisted  on  the  divine  right  of 
Presbytery,  and  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only 
head  of  the  church.  Failing  to  secure  the  repeal  of  this 
measure,  they  ceased  their  efforts,  and  the  work  of  build- 


PRESBYTERY  IN   ENGLAND. 


119 


ing  the  Church  of  England  on  the  new  basis  came  to  an 
end. 

In  1613  the  "  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  for 
the  extirpation  of  popery  and  prelac}^,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  religion  according  to  the  Word  of  Grod  and  the 
example  of  the  best  reformed  churches,"  was  subscribed 
bv  the  parliaments  of  England  and  Scotland,  the  assem- 
bl)^  of  divines,  and  great  numbers  of  the  people.  The 
further  object  of  the  League  and  Covenant  was  declared 
to  be,  '■  the  maintenance  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
parliament,  and  the  defense  of  the  king's  person,  family, 
and  authority."  The  object  of  the  Presbyterians,  in 
short,  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  was  the  establish- 
ment of  Presbytery  in  the  room  of  Episcopacy,  with  the 
maintenance  of  monarchy,  in  the  persons  of  the  king 
and  his  posterity.  In  the  day  of  their  triumph,  they 
used  their  power  after  the  example  of  the  hierarchy  they 
had  superseded.  It  is  not  strictly  true  that  "  the  new- 
Presbyter  was  but  old  priest  writ  large. ""^  It  was  writ- 
ten in  the  same  heavy  Eoman  hand  as  the  established 
clergy  before  them,  whether  Papal  or  Anglican,  had  been 
accustomed  to  use.  But  it  was  writ  quite  large  enough. 
In  1616,  having  the  entire  control  of  parliament,  the 
Presbyterians  passed  "  an  ordinance  for  the  suppression 
of  blasphemies  and  heresies."     "  Any  man  "  (so  runs  this 

*  Milton  had  personal  reasons  for  dislikins;  the  Presbyterians,  having  been 
summoned  before  parliament,  on  the  indictment  of  the  Westminster  Assembly, 
to  answer  for  his  book  on  ''The  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce."  The 
'•'Scotch  What  D'ye  CaU"-  was,  no  doubt,  Gillespie,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Assembly,  and  whose  "■  rugged  name,"  written  in  the  eleventh  sonnet  "  Galasp," 
seeips  to  have  been  peculiarly  offensive  to  Milton.  For  the  '"  mere  A.  S.,''''  who 
is  associated  with  Rutherford,  another  eminent  Scotch  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly, the  critics  have  been  driven  to  hunt  out  or  invent  "a  polemical  writer  of 
the  times,  named  Adam  Stewart."  But  it  is  much  more  likely  "A.  S."  was  an 
understood  symbol  for  some  Presbyterian,  or  Presbyterians,  in  the  Assembly, 
than  the  initials  of  an  obscure  or  supposititious  writer  in  Scotland.  Milton 
would  hardly  have  stooped  to  such  game. 


r20  RISE    AND    FALL   OF 

terrible  statute)  "  denying  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  or 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  or  that  the  books  of  the  Scripture 
are  the  Word  of  God,  or  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  or 
a  future  day  of  judgment,  and  refusing,  on  trial,  to 
abjure  his  heresy,  shall  suffer  the  pain  of  death.  Any 
man  declaring  "  (amid  a  long  list  of  other  errors)  "that 
man,  by  nature,  hath  free  will  to  turn  to  God,  that  there  is 
apurgatorj^,  that  images  are  lawful,  that  infant  baptism  is 
unlawful ;  any  one  denying  the  obligation  of  observing 
the  Lord's  day,  or  asserting  that  the  church  government 
by  Presl'jytery  is  anti-Christian,  or  unlawful,  shall,  on  a 
refusal  to  renounce  his  errors,  be  committed  to  prison."* 

To  carry  out  such  legislation  as  this,  and  thoroughly 
Presbyterianize  the  Church  of  England,  it  was  only  nec- 
essary that  Charles  should  subscribe  the  solemn  League 
and  Covenant,  and  put  himself  into  the  hands  of  parlia- 
ment. On  these  terms  the  Presbyterians 'were  ready,  at 
any  time,  to  end  the  war,  and  receive  back  the  king. 
They  resisted  to  the  utmost  his  execution,  as  well  as  the 
abolition  of  the  monarchy  and  the  protectorate  of  Crom- 
well. 

But  the  power  passed  rapidly  out  of  their  hands.  The 
parliament  was  overawed  by  the  army,  then  under  con- 
trol of  Independents  and  Kepublicans  ;  and  by  "Pride's 
Purge,"  December  5,  1648,  one  hundred  and  forty  Pres- 
byterian members  were  excluded  from  the  House.  The 
remaining  members,  thenceforward  called  "  the  rump," 
consisted  of  oflicers  of  the  army.  Independents,  and 
others  of  radical  views.  It  was  by  them  that  the  king 
was  brought  to  trial  and  the  form  of  government  changed. 

From  this  time,  the  Presbyterians  remained  in  a 
depressed  and  imperfectly  organized  condition,  until  the 

*  Green's  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  p.  553. 


PEESBYTERY  IN   ENGLA^'D.  121 

death  of  Cromwell.  The  excluded  members  were  then 
restored  by  General  Monk,  February  24:th,  1659-60. 
The  parliament,  now  again  become  Presbyterian,  imme- 
diately resumed  measures  looking  to  the  restoration  of 
monarchy,  and  the  establishment  of  the  Chnrch  of 
England,  under  the  rule  of  Presbytery.  Charles  11.  had 
already,  on  his  part,  subscribed  the  solemn  League  and 
Covenant.  He  now  returned  in  triumph  to  the  throne  of 
his  ancestors,  to  reign  as  a  pious  and  Presbyterian  sover- 
eicrn.     The  result  was  the  immediate  re-establishment  of 

o 

Episcopacy,  and  the  passing  of  a  new  "  act  of  uniform- 
ity," by  which,  onthe2-lth  of  August,  ("  Black  Barthol- 
omew '')  two  thousand  Presbyterian  clergy  were  ejected 
from  their  livings.  Presbyterianism,  which  had  abused 
its  clay  of  success,  fell  unpitied,  and  was  mostly  rooted 
out  of  England.  What  remained  became  Congregation- 
alized  in  1689,  and  thence  lapsed  into  heresy  and  insig- 
nificance. 


THE    WESTMINSTER   ASSEMBLY. 

On  the  10th  of  September,  16-12,  the  Long  Parliament, 
in  both  Houses,  passed  an  act  for  the  utter  abolishing  of 
Episcopacy  after  the  5th  of  November,  1648  ;  and  on  the 
12th  of  June,  16-13,  it  having  then  become  plain  that  no 
concessions  in  favor  of  civil  or  religious  liberty  were  to 
be  expected  of  the  king,  they  adopted  "  an  ordinance  for 
calling 'an  assembly  of  learned  and  Godly  divines  and 
others,  to  be  consulted  with  by  the  parliament,  for  set- 
tling the  government  and  liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England." 

The  parliament  appointed  one  hundred  and  fifty-one 


122  THE   WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY. 

persons  as  members  of  tlie  Assembly,  of  whom  ten  were 
peers,  twenty  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
the  others  distinguished  divines  of  the  Church  of 
England,  Episcopally  ordained,  but  Presbyterian  or  Inde- 
pendent in  sentiment.  The  Church  of  Scotland  also 
sent  six  commissioners.  The  Assembly  met  on  the  1st 
of  July,  1618,  with  seventy-nine  members  present.  Dr. 
William  Twisse  was  chosen  prolocutor,  and  after  his 
death.  Dr.  Charles  Herle.  The  quorum  was  fixed  at 
forty,  and  the  average  attendance  did  not  equal  one  hun- 
dred. The  place  of  meeting  was,  at  first,  Henry  Yllth's 
chapel,  in  Westminster  Abbey  ;  and,  later  in  the  year, 
w^hen  fires  became  necessary  to  comfort,  in  the  Jerusalem 
chamber  of  the  deanery  of  Westminster.  Sessions  were 
held  daily,  except  on  Saturday  and  Sundav,  interrupted 
by  frequent  sermons  and  days  of  fasting  and  prayer. 

Every  member,  on  taking  his  seat,  subscribed  the  fol- 
lowing declaration  :  "I do  seriously  promise 

and  vow,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  that,  in  this 
Assembly,  I  will  maintain  nothing,  in  doctrine,  but  what 
I  believe  to  be  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  Grod,  nor,  in 
discipline,  but  what  I  conceive  most  to  the  glory  of  Grod, 
and  the  good  and  peace  of  His  church."  This  was  pub- 
licly read  every  Monday  morning. 

The  Assembly  began  with  a  revision  of  the  thirtj^-nine 
articles,  and  proceeded  as  far  as  the  sixteenth,  somewhat 
changing  their  form  and  appending  copious  Scripture 
proofs.  By  the  order  of  parliament,  they  then  laid  this 
aside,  and  proceeded  to  the  work  of  drawing  up  a  form 
of  government,  discipline  and  worship,  in  place  of  those 
which  had  been  abolished.  In  entering  upon  these  sub- 
jects, it  immediately  appeared  that  there  were  three  par- 
ties in  the  Assembly,  viz. : 


THE   WESTMINSTER   ASSEMBLY.  123 

1.  The  PresbyteriaD,  which  was  much  the  largest, 
including  the  greater  part  of  the  English  divines,  all  the 
Scotch,  and  a  number  of  the  lay  members. 

2.  The  Independents,  containing  only  about  ten  mem- 
bers, but  distinguished  both  for  their  ability  and  their 
zeal  in  urging  their  views. 

8.  The  Erastian,  still  sm^dler  in  numbers,  but  embrac- 
ing several  men  eminent  for  learning  and  backed  up  by 
a  majority  in  parliament.  They  held  that  llie  Supreme 
Magistrate  was  the  head  of  the  cliurch,  and  that  all  dis- 
cipline by  the  clergy  was  subject  to  His  review  and  con- 
trol. Both  these  latter  parties  denied,  of  course,  the 
divine  right  of  presbytery,  while  the  first  maintained  it. 

The  Assembl}^  first  drew  up  the  directory  for  worship, 
the  same,  in  substance,  as  that  now  in  use,  but  consider- 
ably more  fall.  This  was  agreed  upon  without  dissent. 
It  did  not  include  chapter  ten — "on  the  mode  of 
inflicting  church  censures,"  which  would  have  been 
obnoxious  to  the  Erastians.  It  was  introduced  by  a 
preface  drawn  up  by  some  of  the  Independent  divines, 
recommending  it  instead  of  the  service  of  the  prayer 
book.  This  was  sanctioned  by  parliament,  and  divine 
worship  ordered  to  be  conducted  by  it  in  all  the  churches 
of  the  kingdom.  All  copies  of  the  book  of  common 
prayer  were  called  in,  and  the  use  of  it,  either  in  public 
or  famih'  worship,  made  punishable  by  fine  and  impris- 
onment. 

The  Assembly  then  occupied  itself  with  preparing  the 
form  of  government  and  rules  of  discipline.  This  led  to 
long  and  heated  discussions  between  the  Presbyterians 
and  the  Independents.  The  latter  agreed  to  a  ruling 
eldership,  and    the    calling  of  synods   for   advice,    but 


124  THE  wp:stmtnster  assembly. 

resisted  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  tlie  church,  the  estab- 
lishment of  church  coarts,  and  appellate  jurisdiction. 

The  Erastians,  also,  zcdously  denied  the  right  of 
church  courts  to  subject  offenders  to  trial  and  discipline, 
as  setting  uj)  an  imperimn  in  iraperio^  of  which  they  had 
an  exaggerated  and  mistaken  terror.  They  held  that 
church  and  state  ai'e  identical,  as  they  were  under  the 
Jewish  theocracy  ;  that  all  persons  have_  a  right  to  the 
sacraments ;  and  that  if  excomm.unication  is  to  be 
inflicted  on  any,  it  can  only  be  by  the  civil  magistrate. 
This  view  prevailed  in  parliament,  and  led  to  the  Eras- 
tian  feature  in  the  form  of  government,  which  discour- 
aged the  Presbyterians  from  organizing  their  polity 
throughout  the  kingdom. 

At  the  same  time  with  these  discussions,  committees 
of  the  Assembly  were  at  work  upon  the  confession  of 
faith,  which  was  reported  to  parliament,  with  the  Scrip- 
ture proofs,  the  29th  of  April,  1647.  On  the  oth  of 
ISTovember,  1647,  the  shorter  catechism  was  presented  to 
the  House  of  Commons ;  and  on  the  14th  of  April,  1648, 
the  larger.*  The  authorship  of  these  admirable  manuals 
is  unknown,  except  by  conjecture.  They  are  attrib- 
uted chiefly  to  Dr.  Arrowsmith,  head  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  and  Dr.  Tucknej^,  Vice-Chancellor  of 
the  University.  The  logically  concise  and  demonstra- 
tive character  of  the  answers  to  the  shorter  catechism  is 
traced  to  the  hand  of  Eev.  John  Wallis,  afterwards  so 
distinguished  as  professor  of  geometry,  at  Oxford. 

The  Assembly  broke  up  February  22d,  -1649,  three 
weeks  after  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  having  lasted 

*  All}'  difference  in  the  dates  assijrned  to  these  events,  is  due  to  the  fact  of  the 
symbols  having  been  reported  to  parliament,  lirst  in  part,  and  then  in  their  com- 
pleted form. 


IXDEPEXUEXCY.  125 

live  yeaj'S ,  and  six  months,  and  held  1,163  sessions. 
But  a  considerable  committee  continued  to  sit  one  day 
in  each  week,  for  the  trial  and  ordination  of  ministers, 
till  March  25th,  1652,  when  it  silently  disappeared. 

The  Westminster  Assem^bly,  though  sharing  with  the 
early  councils,  and  with  the  Synod  of  Dort,  in  the  disad- 
vantage of  being  embarrassed  by  its  intimate  relations 
with  the  civil  power  which  called  it  into  being,  vv'as  yet 
never  surpassed  in  freedom  and  boldness  of  discussion, 
in  the  learning  and  piety  of  its  members,  in  profound 
study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  in  the  logical  and  massive 
character  of  its  doctiinal  results. 

G 

INDEPENDEXCY. 

It  is  alleged,  inbehalf  of  independency,  that  the  power 
of  church  government  is  most  safely  trusted  in  the  hands 
of  the  brotherhood  of  each  church  alone.  We  affirm,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  church  power,  or  any  other  power, 
is  most  unsafely  trusted  to  the  hands  of  a  body  whose 
decisions  are  subject  to  no  review,  or  control,  bv  any 
higher  body.  The  smaller  the  circle  from  within  which 
the  members  of  a  court  are  to  be  chosen,  the  greater  the 
liability  to  incompetency,  to  2:)rejadices,  to  the  controll- 
ing influence  of  one  or  a  few  individuals.  The  male 
membership  of  a  church  ofteis  consists  of  a  verv  small 
number.  They  may  be  ignorant,  narrow-minded,  and 
])rejudiced.  The  pastor  may  be  arbitrary  and  passion- 
ate. He  may  be  able  always  to  control  a  majority,  and 
become  the  petty  despot  of  the  church.  The  decisions 
of  the  church  may  be  simply  the  echo  of  his  sentiments ; 
but  they  must  stand  as  absolute  law,  subject  to  no 
reversal.     AYhat  citizen  would  consent  to  intrust  his  life, 


I'^H  INDEPENDENCY. 

or  his  property,  beyond  the  most  trifling  amount,  to  any 
sucli  irresponsible  court  ? 

Or,  if  the  membership  is  large,  the  liability  to  error 
and  wrong  is  none  the  less.  Popular  assemblages  are 
eminently  liable  to  be  moved  by  passion,  or  personal 
influence ;  and  the  number  taking  part  in  any  decision 
diminishes  each  inilividual's  sense  of  responsibility. 
Mr.  Burke,  in  his  Eeflections  on  the  French  Revolution, 
quotes  Aristotle  to  the  effect  that  "  a  democracy  has 
many  striking  points  of  resemblance  to  a  tyranny  ;"  and 
in  another  passage  he  illustrates  it  as  follows :  •'  The 
members  of  a  democracy  are,  in  a  great  measure,  their 
own  instruments.  They  are  nearer  to  their  objects. 
Besides,  they  are  less  under  responsibility  to  one  of  the 
greatest  controlling  powers  on  earth  —  the  sense  of  fame 
and  estimation.  The  share  of  infamy  that  is  likely  to 
fall  to  each  individual,  in  public  acts,  is  small,  the  opera- 
tion of  opinion  being  in  the  inverse  ratio  to  the  number 
of  those  who  abuse  power.  Their  own  approbation  of 
their  own  acts  has  to  them  the  nppearance  of  a  public 
judgment  in  their  favor.  A  ])erfect  democi-acy  is,  there- 
fore, the  most  shameless  thing  in  the  world  ;  and,  as  it 
is  the  most  shameless,  it  is  also  the  most  fearless.  No 
man  apprehends  in  his  own  person,  he  can  be  made 
subject  to  punishment." 

A  church  session,  on  the  other  hand,  proceeds  with 
comparative  caution,  for  two  reasons  :  In  the  first  place, 
their  number  is  small,  and  a  greater  sense  of  responsi- 
bility for  his  acts  attaches  to  each  individual.  In  the 
next  place,  they  know  their  proceedings  are  to  be  re- 
viewed, and  are  liable  to  be  reversed  by  a  higher  body, 
and  reversed  with  a  degree  of  emphasis  which  may  have 


IXDEPE^'UENCY.  12  < 

the  force  of  an  impressive  censure,  proportioned  to  the 
rashness  or  passion  they  may  have  disphiyed. 

It  may  be  fearlessly  asserted  that  no  system  can  be 
devised  more  perfectly  adapted  to  maintain  truth,  defend 
character,  and  enforce  discipline,  than  one  in  which  a 
case  is  first  tried  by  a  jury,  on  the  spot  where  it  orig- 
inated, and  where  ever}^  fact  bearing  on  the  question  is 
most  certain  to  be  brought  out ;  which  next  goes,  or 
may  go,  by  appeal,  to  a  higher  court,  drawn  from  a 
wider  range,  and  embracing  more  elements  of  impartial- 
ity and  wisdom  ;  and  then,  by  another  remove,  to  a  much 
larger  court  still,  embracing  a  range  entirely  without  the 
limit  of  local  prejudices  and  passions  ;  which,  even  then, 
is  not  necessarily  arrested,  but  may,  by  possibility,  go  to 
an  ultimate  court  of  appeals,  representing  the  entire 
church  with  which  the  local  church  where  the  difficulty 
originated  is  in  communion. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  only  a  very  few  cases,  involving  important 
principles,  ever  reach  this  highest  court.  Few  appeals 
go  to  a  presbyter}^,  fewer  still  to  a  synod.  The  two 
causes  mentioned  above  give  a  prudence  and  caution  to 
the  acts  of  a  church  session,  which  usually  lead  all  par- 
ties to  acquiesce  in  their  decision. 

The  late  venerable  Dr.  Josiah  Hopkins,  a  man  of  emi- 
nently calm  and  dispassionate  mind,  after  having  illus- 
trated, by  several  examples,  the  working  of  the  Congre- 
gational polity  in  New  England,  gives  the  result  of  his 
own  experience  as  follows  : 

"  But  I  have  one  more  case  to  relate,  and,  without  giv- 
ing it,  I  cannot  present  the  result  of  my  experience  for 
the  half  century  past.  As  I  have  already  stated,  the 
first  twenty  years  of  my  official  life  were  spent  in  New 


12  b  INDEPENDENCY. 

England,  as  a  pastor  of  a  Congregational  Charcli,  and 
the  next  sixteen  in  Western  New. York,  in  connection 
with  a  Presbyterian.  The  Congi^gational  Church  num- 
bered, generally,  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and 
seventj-iiv^e  members,  and  the  Presbyterian  from  four  to 
five  hundred.  Both  were  churches  that,  in  point  of  dis- 
cipline, stood  as  high  as  any  in  the  vicinity.  While  I 
was  in  the  Cong^re2:ational  Church,  and  attended  to  disci- 
pline  in  the  whole  church,  in  several  cases  the  excite- 
ment became  so  high,  that  the  house,  though  a  large  one 
for  the  country,  on  a  week  day  was  literally  filled,  for 
several  days.  La  most,  if  not  in  every  case,  the  subject 
that  produced  this  excitement  was,  at  first,  the  merest 
trifle,  and  it  was  finally  settled  by  committees  and  ref- 
erees. In  some  cases  a  spirit  of  permanent  dissatisfac- 
tion, even  between  such  as  were  relatives,  and  had  pre- 
viously been  on  the  best  term^,  was  left  fastened  on 
many  minds.  In  the  other  church,  though  it  contained 
more  than  three  times  the  number  of  members,  there 
never  was  a  case  in  which  the  excitement  became  such 
that  a  common  room  would  not  accommodate  all  that 
desired  to  attend  the  trial. 

"  While  I  was  in  the  Congregational  Church,  appeals 
were  frequently  made  from  the  decisions  of  the  church, 
sometimes  to  consociation,  and  sometimes  to  arbitrators. 
But  in  the  Presbj^erian,  though  we  had  meetings,  as  a 
general  rule,  at  least  once  in  every  week,  to  attend  to 
cases  of  discipline,  yet  there  was  not,  in  sixteen  years,  one 
single  case  of  appeal.  Tnere  was  not  a  single  case  in 
which  the  parties  were  so  far  dissatisfied  with  the  deci- 
sion of  the  session,  that  they  were  anxious  for  another 
trial. 

"  Now,  I  am  unable  to  see  how  evidence  on  the  subject 


INDEPENDENCY.  12y 

before  us  can  be  more  convincing,  tlian  from  the  com- 
parison of  these  ciuirches.  They  were  both  churches 
that  had  the  reputation  of  being  comparatively  well  gov- 
erned, as  much  so  as  any  in  the  vicinit}'.  They  were 
both  prosperous.  I  cannot  tell  which  was  most  so,  as  I 
cannot  have  access  to  the  records  of  the  Congregational 
Church.  I  recollect  that  it  had  a  steady  growth,  and 
from  a  small  and  divided  state  it  became  one  of  the  most 
numerous  and  most  influential  in  that  town,  and  almost 
the  only  one,  at  the  time  I  was  called  to  leave  it.  The 
Presbyterian  Church,  during  the  sixteen  j-ears  while  I 
was  pastor,  received,  on  an  average,  sixty  a  year,  amount- 
ing to  the  surprising  number  of  nine  hundred  and  sixty. 
It  cannot  for  a  moment  be  supposed  that  the  smaller 
church,  situated  as  it  was  in  one  of  the  better  districts  of 
New  England,  was  composed  of  worse  materials,  such  as 
are  more  difficult  to  keep  within  proper  limits  ;  and  vet, 
within  that  smaller  church,  situated  in  New  England, 
there  were  excitements  almost  every  year,  that  very 
extensively  affected  the  public  mind.  There  were 
numerous  appeals  to  councils  and  arbitrators;  and  what 
was  still  worse,  there  were  left  between"  some  families 
some  very  unpleasant  feelings  and  prejudices,  which,  it 
is  feared,  can  never  be  removed.  But  in  the  larger 
church,  containing  more  than  three  times  the  number  of 
members,  not  one  single  appeal  was  ever  made  from  the 
decisions  of  the  session.  Some  very  trjdng  cases 
occurred  ;  one  member  of  the  session  even,  being  tried 
and  excommunicated,  but  not  one  excitement  that  ever 
affected  the  public  mind ;  nor  was  the  peace  and  happi- 
ness of  any  one  family  ever  destroyed.''  (Presbyterian- 
ism  and  Congregationalism  Compared,  by  Rev.  Josiah 
Hopkins,  D.  D.,  Auburn,  i860.) 


180  PRESBYTERIAN  ISM    IN    IRELAND. 

PRESBYTERIAN  ISM  IN  IRELAND. 

Presbjterianism  gained  nlmost  no  footing  in  Ireland, 
until  near  the  end  of  the  16th  century.     To  prevent  its 
introduction  from    Scotland,  a  law  was  passed,  in   the 
third  year  of  Philip  and  Mary,  (1566)   forbidding  the 
Scotch  to  colonize  in  Ireland,  or  to  intermarry  with  the 
Irish  people.     This   law  remained  in  force  throughout 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was  only  repealed  in 
the  year  1607.     The  Scotch  Presbyterians  then  began  to 
settle  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  in  considerable  numbers. 
The  "  Presbyterian  "  clergy  of  London  undertook  earn- 
estly the  work  of  missions  among  the  native  Catholics 
in  that  part  of  the  island.     They  sent  over  organized 
bodies  of  colonists  for  that  purpose,  by  whom  London- 
derr}^,  Enniskillen,  and  some  other  Protestant   strong- 
holds, were  either  built,  or  enlarged  and  fortified.     Epis- 
copacy had,  indeed,  been  established  as  the  Church  of 
England,  but   the   number  of  churchmen  were   small. 
The  primate  of  Ireland  w^as  Dr.  James  Usher,  distin- 
guished for  his  learning  and  piety,  and  the  highly  lib- 
eral character  of  his  sentiments  on  church  government. 
The  Scotch  ministers,  who  came  into  Ireland  with  their 
people,  were  zealous  against  Episcopacy,  and  unwilling 
to  consent  to  Episcopal  ordination.     Through  the  wis- 
dom and  moderation  of  Arch-bishop  Usher,  and  other 
Irish  bishops,  a  plan  of  comprehension  was  adopted,  by 
which  the  Presb^^terian  clergy  became  incorporated  into 
the  Establishment.     Ordination  was  performed  by  the 
bishop  and  the  presbytery  acting  together.     Under  this 
plan,  many  Presb3^terians,  retaining  both  their  own  sen- 
timents and  usages,  held   livings  in  the  Church  of  Ire- 


PRESBYTEllIANISM    IX    IRELAND.  131 

land,  and  sat  in  convocationr  with  the  Episcopal  clergy. 
A  confession  of  faith,  drawn  by  Dr.  Usher,  was  adopted, 
embodying  the  sentiments  of  the  English  Puritans,  (the 
nine  Lambeth  Articles  of  1595)  both  in  respect  to  doc- 
trine and  the  church  ;  expressly  recognizing  the  minis- 
try of  every  Christian  Church,  and  making  no  mention, 
even,  of  bishops,  or  an  apostolical  succession.  By  this 
liberal  arrangement  harmony  was  maintained  between 
the  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
Ireland,  "until  Arch-bishop  Laud,  in  1642,  succeeded  in 
getting  Usher's  articles  set  aside,  and  a  rigid  subscrip- 
tion to  the  thirty-nine  articles  substituted  in  their  place. 
This  broke  up  the  unity  of  the  L'ish  Churcli,  and  weak- 
ened the  cause  of  Protestantism,  which  had  already 
suffered  greatly  from  the  Irish  massacre  of  the  year  16-11. 
During  the  commonwealth,  Episcopacy  was  abolished  in 
Ireland,  as  in  England.  Cromwell  reduced  the  Irish 
people  to  submission,  inflicting  severe  punishment  for 
the  massacre  of  the  Protestants.  On  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II,  in  1661,  Episcopacy  w^as  restored  in  Ireland. 
All  who  had  been  ordained  during  the  period  of  the  com- 
monwealth were  required  to  be  re-ordained,  but  without 
condemning  their  previous  ordinations  as  invalid. 
Through  this  saving  clause,  the  Presbyterian  clergy  con- 
tinued to  hold  places  in  the  Irish  Church.  On  the  revo- 
lution of  1688,  the  Presbyterians  of  Ireland,  as  a  bodv, 
received  express  toleration,  and  an  allowance  from  the 
^  state,  the  '•  regium  donum,"  was  made  to  their  ministry. 
From  the  period  of  this  corrupt  relation,  began  the  decay 
of  Irish  Presbyterianisra,  both  in  doctrine  and  life. 
Early  in  the  18th  century,  Arianism  began  to  prevail 
among  the  Presbyterian,  as  it  did  among  the  Anglican 
clergy,  both  of  England  and  Ireland.     In  1726  the  Irish 


182  HISTORY   OF   FRESBYTERIANISM 

Churcli  was  divided.  The  Belfast  and  Dublin  ministers 
insisted  on  a  loose  subscription  to  the  confession  of  faith, 
which  would  admit  both  Arminians  and  Arians.  They 
were  thereupon  excluded  from  the  synod,  and  the  line 
was  drawn  between  the  unsound  and  the  orthodox  por- 
tions of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  body.  This  was  followed 
by  the  "adopting  act"  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
America,  in  1729."^ 

J 

HISTORY  OF  FRESBYTERIANISM  IN  AMERICA. 

The  early  IS'ew  England  colonists,  through  dread  of 
ecclesiastical  tj^ranny,  from  which  they  had  suffered  so 
much  at  home,  were  inclined  to  keep  at  the  farthest 
remove  from  prelac}^  They  were,  by  no  means,  disin- 
clined, however,  to  the  essential  features  of  Presbyteri- 

*  The  low  character  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  of  the  time,  both  as  respects  faith 
and  life,  is  too  well  known.  A  few  years  after  this,  Dr.  Rundle,  who  was  sus- 
pected of  holding  Arian  views,  being  nominated  Bishop  of  Derry,  and  objection 
being  made,  on  that  ground,  to  his  consecration,  Dean  Swift  vented  his  scorn  of 
the  scruple  as  follows  : 

Rundle,  a  bishop !    Fie,  for  shame  I 

An  Arian  to  usurp  the  name  ! 

A  bishop  in  the  Isle  of  Saints  ! 

How  will  his  brethren  make  complaints  ? 

Dare  any  of  the  mitred  host 

Confer  on  him  the  Holy  Ghost, 

In  mother  church  to  breed  a  variance, 

By  coupling  orthodoxy  with  Arians  ? 

Yet,  were  he  heathen,  Turk,  or  Jew, 
What  is  there  in  it  strange  or  new  ? 

For  let  us  hear  the  weak  pretence  ^ 

His  brethren  find  to  take  offense  ; 
Of  whom  there  arc  but  four,  at  most, 
Who  know  there  is  a  Holy  Ghost ; 
The  rest  who  boast  they  have  conferred  it, 
Like  Paul's  Ephesians,  never  heard  it, 
And  when  they  gave  it,  well  'tis  known, 
They  gave  what  never  was  their  own. 
&c.,  &c  ,  &c. 


IX.  AMERICA  183 

anism,  as  appears  from  the  Cambridge  and  Saybrook 
platforms,  which  recognize  the  visible  unity  of  the 
church,  a  ruling  eldership,  and  synodical  government. 

The  first  express  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  was 
organized  at  Kehoboth,  in  Maryland,  in  16S2,  by  Rev. 
Francis  Mc  Kemie,  a  member  of  Lagan  Presbyter}^,  in 
the  north  of  Ireland.  The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia 
was  organized  in  1705,  with  a  body  of  ministers  of  whom 
one-half  had  been  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  and  the 
rest  New  England  Congregationalists.  In  1716  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia  was  constituted  from  four  presby- 
teries. The  laxity  and  unsoundness  in  the  Irish-Pres- 
byterian Church  rendered  it  necessary  to  lay  an  explicit 
doctrinal  basis  for  the  union  of  the  church  in  America. 
In  1729,  by  what  is  known  as  the  ''  adopting  act,"  the 
Westminster  Assembly's  standards  (excepting  the  '•  Eras- 
tian  clauses,"  in  chapters  21,  23  and  31,)  were  formally 
acknowledged  as  the  standards  of  the  church.  Among 
the  Scotch-Irish  members,  however,  in  the  synod,  jeal- 
ousies soon  grew  up,  occasioned  by  the  varying  interpre- 
tations of  that  act,  and  the  arrival  of  new  ministers  from 
Ireland,  whose  orthodoxy  was  doubtful.  These  jeal- 
ousies were  increased  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  "  great 
revival,"  and  the  frequently  rash  and  injudicious  meas- 
ures used  to  promote  it ;  particularly,  by  William  Ten- 
nent,  a  Scotch-Irish  minister,  and  his  four  sons.  Great 
alarm  was  also  felt  at  the  influence  of  "Log  College,"  a 
school  established  by  Tennent,  at  Keshaminy,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, for  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  minis- 
try. To  these  causes  is  to  be  added  the  influence  of 
Whitfield,  at  that  time  prosecuting  a  preaching  tour  in 
America.  The  conservative  party,  or  "old  side,'*  dis- 
approved of  the  rash  and  disorderly  measures  connected 


184  HISTORY    OF   PKESBYTERIANISM 

with  the  revival ;  desired  a  sound  and  well  educated,  as 
well  as  zealous  ministry,  and  required  a  strict  subscrip- 
tion to  the  standards.  The  new  side,  or  "  the  New 
Brunswick  party,"  was  composed  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick,  which  included  three  of  the  Tennents, 
and  such  others  as  sympathized  with  them.  In  1741 
(the  synod  then  sitting  at  Philadelphia)  a  protest  was 
introduced,  recounting  the  divisive  and  disorderly  prac- 
tices of  the  "  New  Brunswick  brethren,"  and  requiring 
their  exclusion  from  the  church.  The  latter,  proving  to 
be  in  the  rninorit}^,  withdrew  from  the  synod.  This 
made  the  schism  of  1741. 

The  New  England  members  generally  adhered  to  the 
majority.  The  New  York  Presbytery,  which  was  not 
present  at  the  above  mentioned  acts,  and  was  strongly  in 
sympathy  with  the  revival,  and,  in  so  far,  at  least,  with 
the  New  Brunswick  brethren,  made  early  and  repeated 
efforts  to  heal  the  schism.  This  failing,  they  organized 
the  new  Synod  of  New  York,  of  which  the  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery  became  a  part.  Thus,  the  Synod  of  New 
York,  with  three  presbyteries,  composed  the  "new 
side,"  and  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  with  the  same 
mimber,  the  "  old  side."  The  new  synod  comprised 
the  most  earnest  and  progressive  elements  in  the  church. 
It  grew  rapidly  in  numbers  and  influence.  Its  member- 
ship soon  became  three  times  that  of  the  "old  side." 
Its  ministers  were  in  high  repute  and  demand.  The 
relation  between  the  two  synods,  however,  was  not  acri- 
monious. The  feeling  of  irritation  soon  abated.  New 
overtures  were  made  for  peace,  and  in  1758,  after  lasting 
seventeen  years,  the  schism  was  healed,  on  principles 
satisfixctory  to  both  sides.  The  Synod  of  Philadelphia, 
at  the  reunion,  counted  but  twenty-two  ministers,  while 


IX    AMERICA.  185 

the  Synod  of  New  York  had  increased  to  seventy. 
Between  1758  and  1775  the  Presbyterian  Church  con- 
tinued to  grow  steadily,  notwithstanding  the'  decided 
and  persecuting  opposition  of  the  colonial  established 
church.  In  1789  the  organization  was  completed,  b}^ 
the  meeting  of  the  First  General  Assembly,  which 
convened  at  the  same  time  and  place,  viz.,  Philadelphia, 
May,  1789,  as  the  First  Congress  under  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

K 

episcopacy  IN"  THE  AMERICAN  COLONIES. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century,  when  the  feeble 
elements  of  Presbyterianism,  in  this  countrj^,  were  just 
beginning  to  crystallize  in  their  primary  forms,  the  Epis- 
copacy of  the  English  Church  had  long  had  exclusive 
possession  of  the  middle  and  southern  colonies.  Exactly 
one  hundred  years  before  the  formation  of  the  Presbv- 
tery  of  Philadelphia,  King  James,  hj  orders  under  the 
privy  seal,  established  the  English  Church  in  the  planta- 
tions in  America.  Episcopacy  was  the  state  religion  in 
most  of  the  colonies  outside  New  England,  as  truly  as  it 
was  in  the  mother  country,  though  not  yet  so  com- 
pletely organized.  Its  churches  and  parsonages  were 
built  with  public  money,  its  clergy  supported  by  gen- 
eral tax,  and  inducted  into  their  parishes  by  roj'al 
authorit}^  Christians  of  every  other  denomination  were 
"  dissenters,"  rigorously  excluded,  so  far  as  possible,  or 
persecuted  by  severe  penal  laws,  and,  at  length,  only 
tolerated  by  the  act  of  the  Eevolution  government,  of 
1688.  But  the  growth  of  Episcopacy  in  the  colonies 
was  slow.  When  Francis  McKemie,  John  Hampton, 
John  McNish,  and  their  four  associates,  stood  around 


136  EPISCOPACY    IN    THE 

the  cradle  of  infant  Presbvteiy,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1705, 
the  established  clergy  of  all  sorts  in  the  colonies,  par- 
sons, teachers,  and  regimental  chaplains,  amounted  to 
less  than  fifty.  Seventy  years  later,  at  the  breaking 
out  of  the  Eevolution,  they  had  grown  to  less  than  one 
hundred. 

The  causes  of  this  tardy  increase,  notwithstanding  the 
fostering  care  of  government,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
"  venerable  society  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  colonies,"  were  found  in  the  degraded  character  of 
the  clergy  themselves,  the  lack  of  popular  sj^mpathy, 
and  the  want  of  an  American  Episcopate.  The  Angli- 
can congregations  in  America  occupied  an  equivocal 
position,  belonging  to  no  diocese  whatever.  By  an 
unauthorized  arrangement,  tacitly  acquiesced  in,  the 
bishop  of  London  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  dio- 
cesan of  the  church  in  the  colonies.  Resort  w^as  had  to 
him  for  all  needed  Episcopal  acts.  Confirmation  and 
government  were  wdiolly  wanting,  and  every  native  born 
candidate  for  orders  must  pass  the  seas,  to  receive  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the  hands  of  the  "successor of 
the  apostles." 

During  the  century  that  preceded  the  Revolution,  this 
w^as  no  trifling  hardship.  In  the  imperfect  navigation  of 
the  period,  the  voyage,  even  if  successful,  was  tedious. 
But  it  was  often  attended  with  fatal  results.  The  un- 
happy candidates  were  wrecked  on  the  coast ;  they  foun- 
dered on  the  high  seas,  and  were  never  heard  of;  they 
were  cut  off  by  the  small-pox  in  England,  where  the  dis- 
ease w^as  thought  to  be  peculiarly  fatal  to  Americans; 
they  were  taken  by  French  privateers,  and  "died,  pris- 
oners in  Bayonne."  One-fifth,  at  least,  of  all  who  went 
out  for  orders  never  came  back. 


AMERICAN   COLONIES.  137 

Kepeated  efforts  were  made,  at  various  times  during 
the  eighteenth  century,  to  induce  the  English  govern- 
ment to  provide  a  bishop  for  the  colonies.  All  these 
failed,  partly  through  the  indifference  of  the  English 
Church,  and  partly  from  the  strenuous  opposition  of 
American  Episcopalians  themselves,  to  the  scheme.  The 
clergy  and  the  legislature  of  Virginia  protested  almost 
unanimously  against  it ;  and  the  clergy  of  Georgia,  at  a 
later  period,  gave  a  reluctant  consent,  on  condition  that 
no  bishop  should  reside  within  the  limits  of  that  state. 

During  the  Kevolutionary  war,  the  Episcopal  clergy, 
with  only  a  very  few  exceptions,  remained  loyal  to  the 
British  crown.  Bishop  Wilberforce  observes,  that  "  amid 
the  general  defection,  one  class  of  men  alone  remained 
faithful.  While  hypocrisy  found  in  Puritanism  the 
forms  it  needed,  (days  of  fasting  and  prayer,  &c.)  not  one 
minister  of  the  Episcopalian  Church,  north  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, joined  the  side  of  the  insurgents."* 

Immediately  on  the  establishment  of  American  Inde- 
pendence, efforts  were  renewed  to  secure  from  England 
that  apostolic  succession  for  the  states,  which  the  mother 
church  had  never  been  willing  to  provide  for  her  chil- 
dren in  the  colonies.  Dr.  Seabury  was  elected  bishop  of 
Connecticut,  and,  even  before  the  British  troops  had 
evacuated  New  York,  sailed  for  England  in  the  hope  of 
obtaining  consecration.  Finding  no  encouragement  in 
England,  Dr.  Seabury  kept  on  northwards,  and  sought 
Episcopal  grace  from  the  non-juring  bishops  of  Scotland. 

Four  obscure,  private  individuals,  the  successors  of 
those  bishops  who  had  refused  to  acknowledge  the  Eev- 
olution  government,   and   had,   accordingly,  been   "  de- 

*  History  of  the  Prot.  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  by  Samuel,  Lord  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  Am.  Edition,  p.  132. 


138  EPISCOPACY   IN   AMERICA. 

prived,"  perpetuated  their  empty  titles  among  the  north- 
ern Jacobites.  It  was  a  hundred  years  since  the  Stuarts 
had  forfeited  the  English  throne;  but  the  non-juring 
bishops  still  looked  to  the  exiled  pretender  of  that  fam- 
il}^,  a  discreditable  hanger-on  about  the  Papal  court,  as 
the  Lord's  anointed,  and  the  rightful  head  of  the  English 
Church.  From  him  a  conge  delire  was  sought,  as  often 
as  it  was  thought  proper  to  go  through  with  the  farce  of 
transmitting  their  apostolic  authority.  Three  of  these 
bishops,  destitute  of  any  legal  or  moral  right  to  act,  laid 
their  hands  on  Dr.  Seabury,  and  Dr.  Seabury  assuming 
the  act,  however  irregular,  to  be  at  least  canonical, 
claimed  to  have  been  the  first  to  transport  the  "  apostol- 
ical succession  "  to  America. 

So  much  suspicion,  however,  attached  to  this  proceed- 
ing, that  eminent  Episcopalians  thought  it  necessary  to 
procure  a  more  reliable  consecration.  The  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  rather  singularly,  interested  itself  in 
the  matter.  Four  persons  w^ere  dulj'-  elected  bishops  of 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia,  of 
w^hom  the  three  first  sailed  to  England,  and  received  con- 
secration at  the  hands  of  the  Arch-bishop  of  Canter- 
bury ;  Prevost,  of  New  York,  a  narrow  minded,  violent 
tempered,  low  Arminian  churchman,  who  subsequently 
resio-ned  an  office  for  which  he  had  no  taste  or  fitness ; 
Madison,  of  Virginia,  an  accomplished  gentleman,  but 
far  more  fond  of  philosophy,  science,  and  social  pleas- 
ures, than  of  the  duties  of  the  Episcopate  in  a  dilapi- 
dated diocese  ;  and  William  White,  of  Pennsylvania, 
whose  devout,  humble  and  charitable  spirit  reflect  honor 
on  his  office  and  on  the  church  of  which  he  was  a  chief 
pastor. 


OBJECTIONS    TO    EPISCOPAL    LITUKGY.  139 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE    EPISCOPAL    LITURGY. 

The  iiD scriptural  teaching  of  the  Episcopal  prayer 
book,  in  the  baptismal  and  burial  services,  constitutes, 
perhaps,  the  most  serious  objection  to  it.  In  the  service 
for  baptism  and  confirmation,  the  hearer  is  taught  to 
believe  that  the  external  rites  of  the  church  have  a  sac- 
ramental efficacy  of  themselves ;  that  they  accomplish 
an  opus  operatinn  upon  the  subject,  by  which,  wholly 
apart  from  any  active  and  voluntary  exercise  of  religious 
affections,  he  becomes  a  child  of  God,  an  heir  of  Heaven, 
and  the  reasonable  expectant  of  a  glorious  immortality. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  indeed,  that  by  a  child's  being 
"  regenerated  in  baptism  "  is  not  to  be  understood  its 
being  born  again  in  a  spiritual  sense.  It  is  a  "  condi- 
tional regeneration,"  or  an  outward  change  of  relations ; 
a  change  of  state  and  not  a  change  of  character ;  but 
the  prevailing  sentiment,  and  the  decision  of  the  highest 
authorities,  is  otherwise,  viz.  :  That  the  regeneration  of 
the  child  in  baptism  is  his  renewal  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  that  if  he  persevere  in  baptismal  grace, 
he  needs  no  other  regeneration.  And  this  view  appears, 
most  conformed  to  the  language  of  the  service.  After 
the  baptism  has  been  performed,  the  rubric  directs  that 
the  priest  shall  say,  "  Seeing  now,  dearly  beloved,  that 
this  child  is  regenera,te  and  grafted  into  the  body  of 
Christ's  Church,  let  us  give  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for 
these  benefits.  We  yield  Thee  most  hearty  thanks,  most 
merciful  Father,  that  it  hath  pleased  Thee  to  regenerate 
this  child  by  Thy  holy  Spirit,  and  receive  him  for  Thine 
own  child  by  adoption,  and  to  incorporate  him  with  Thy 
holy  church." 


140  OBJECTIONS    TO    EPISCOPAL    LITURGY. 

The  same  thing  is  declared  in  the  baptismal  service 
for  adults.  This  whole  question  of  the  teaching  of  the 
prayer  book,  in  regard  to  baj)tismal  regeneration, 
received  striking  illustration  in  the  course  of  what  was 
known  as  the  "  Gorham  Controvers}^,"  in  England.  The 
notorious  Bishop  of  Exeter,  Dr.  Philpotts,  refused  to 
institute  Mr.  Gorham  to  a  benefice,  on  the  ground  of  his 
heresy,  in  holding  that  Episcopal  baptism  is  not  infalli- 
bly the  spiritual  regeneration  of  the  subject  of  it.  After 
a  long,  vexatious,  and  expensive  suit,  to  which  Mr.  Gor- 
ham was  put,  in  asserting  his  rights,  the  case  was  finally 
decided  in  his  favor,  by  the  judicial  committee  of  the 
privy  council,  on  this  ground,  viz.  :  Not  that  the  lan- 
guage of  the  service  does  not  seem  to  imply  baptismal 
regeneration,  in  the  high  church  sense,  but  that  such 
liberty  of  opinion  has  always  been  allowed  in  the  Church 
of  England  on  the  subject,  as  to  show  that  her  intent  is 
to  leave  this  an  open  question.  The  judicial  committee 
affirmed  that  the  rubrics  and  formularies  touching  the 
efficacy  of  baptism  admit  of  being  honestly  understood 
in  different  senses,  particularly  when  the  baptismal 
service  is  interpreted  by  the  article  on  baptism.  (The 
24th.) 

This  decision  produced  a  violent  ferment  among  the  high 
churchmen,  both  in  England  and  America.  A  solemn 
protest  was  presented  to  the  government,  by  the  bishop 
of  Exeter's  party,  in  which  the  decision  was  stigmatized 
as  "giving  public  legal  santion  to  false  doctrine,  as  doing 
injury  and  dishonor  to  Christ  and  His  church,  and 
involving  all  who  should  countenance  it  in  the  guilt  of 
heresy." 

The  same  violent  sentiments  were  uttered  by  the  high 
church    party  in    this   country,  through    their   leading 


OBJECTIONS    TO   EPISCOPAL    LITURGY.  141 

orgaDS  ;  eno-ugli  to  show  that,  by  the  leading  represen- 
tatives of  that  chnrch,  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  regenera- 
tion, infallibly  accompanying  baptism,  is  held  vital  to 
the  Episcopal  system,  the  denial  of  it  a  "heresv," 
requiring  open  resistance,  and  even,  according  to  Bishop 
Philpotts,  withholding  communion  with  those  impli- 
cated in  it. 

The  teaching  of  the  burial  service  v;e  must  also  regard 
as  dangerously  erroneous.  Over  the  grave  of  the  drunk- 
ard, the  perjurer,  the  profane  swearer,  the  priest  is 
required  to  declare  that  "  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God, 
in  His  great  mercy,  to  take  unto  Himself  the  soul  of  our 
dear  brother  here,  departed."  Thanks  are  given  as  for  a 
fj^ithful  soul  departed  in  the  Lord,  ''  that  he  hath  deliv- 
ered this  our  brother  out  of  the  miseries  of  this  sinful 
world ;"  and  the  prayer  is  uttered,  "  that  we,  also,  when  we 
depart  this  life,  may  rest  in  Christ,  as  our  hope  is  that 
this  our  brother  doth."  In  fine,  a  more  nakedl}^  Uni- 
versalist  service  it  would  scarcely  be  possible  to  frame. 

In  the  decision  of  the  judicial  committee  on  Mr.  Gor- 
ham's  case,  it  is  attempted  to  sustain  their  view  of  inter- 
preting the  language  of  the  prayers  in  a  qualified  and 
charitable  sense,  by  a  reference  to  this  language  of  the 
burial  service.  They  say,  "  so  far  as  our  knowledge  or 
powers  of  conception  extend,  there  are,  and  must  be, 
some  persons,  not  excommunicated,  who,  having  lived 
lives  of  sin,  die  impenitent,  nay,  some  who  perish  in 
the  actual  commission  of  flagrant  crimes ;  yet,  in  every 
case,  the  priest  is  directed  to  say,  '  forasmuch  as  it  hath 
pleased  Almighty  God,'  etc.,  '  we  commit  his  body  to 
the  grave,  in  the  sure  and  certain  hope  of  the  resurrec- 
tion to  eternal  life,'  etc.  In  this  service,  therefore,  there 
are  absolute  expressions   implying   positive   assertions. 


142  OBJECTIONS    TO    EPISCOPAL    LITURGY. 

Yet,  it  is  admitted  they  cannot  be  literally  trae  in  all 
cases,  but  must  be  construed  in  a  charitable  sense,  justi- 
fied, we  may  believe,  by  a  confident  hope  that  the 
expression  is  literally  true,  in  many  cases,  and  may  be 
true  even  in.  the  particular  case  in  which  it  seems  to  us 
improperly  applied." 

This  must  be  regarded  as  a  miserable  apology.  A 
minister  of  Christ  is  justified,  it  appears,  in  declaring,  in 
absolute  terms,  and  under  the  most  solemn  circum- 
stances, that  the  soul  of  a  grossly  irreligious  member  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  has  been  "taken  by  Grod,  in  great 
mercy,  to  Himself,"  because  this  is  true  of  some  others, 
and  may  he  true,  as  the  committee  think,  even  in  that 
case.  It  is  quite  remarkable  that  the  whole  burial  ser- 
vice does  not  contain  a  word  referring  to  the  future  con- 
dition of  the  wicked.  The  whole  implication,  in  every 
case,  is  the  present  salvation,  and  future  glorious  resur- 
rection of  the  departed. 

Bishop  Sherlock,  as  quoted  in  Southey's  common- 
place book,  sets  up  a  defense  on  this  point,  as  follows  : 
"But,  it  is  said,  this  encourages  his  wicked  companions, 
who  attend  his  funeral,  to  hope  they,  too,  may  be  saved, 
though  they  persist  in  their  wickedness  to  the  last,  as  he 
did.  Now,  indeed,  what  little  matters  may  encourage 
sucli  men  in  sin,  I  cannot  say,  but  there  is  no  reason 
that  a  faint  and  charitable  wish  should  do  this.  If  they 
know  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  they  know  He  has  threatened 
eternal  damnation  against  all  impenitent  sinners.  If 
they  know  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  they  know  she 
teaches  the  very  same  thing.  If  they  saw  their  wicked 
companion  die,  they  saw  his  dying  horrors  and  agonies, 
which  few  of  them  die  without ;  and  when  they  know 
and  see  all  this,  is  there  an}^  hope  they  shall  be  saved  in. 


OBJECTIONS    TO    EPISCOPAL    LITURGY.  143 

their  wickedness,  only  because  the  church  will  not  damn 
them,  but  reserves  them  to  the  judgment  of  Grod,  and 
sends  her  charitable  judgment  after  them?' 

N'ow,  this  is  by  no  means  a  candid  or  honest  defense. 
What  Bishop  Sherlock  passes  off  for  a  "  charitable  wish," 
the  committee  of  the  privy  council,  in  Mr.  G-orham's 
case,  admit  to  be  "  positive  assertions,"  and  no  one,  cer- 
tainly, can  read  the  burial  service  and  make  anything 
less  of  it.  In  the  very  service  appropriated  to  the  con- 
sideration of  death,  and  the  state  of  men  after  death,  the 
liturgy  teaches,  that  (setting  aside  suicides  and  excom- 
municated persons)  all  who  die  in  the  Episcopal  Church, 
"  rest  from  their  labors,  enter  into  joy  and  felicity,  and 
shall  have  their  perfect  consummation  and  bliss,  both  in 
body  and  soul,  in  God's  eternal  and  everlasting  glory." 

Now,  what  is  it  to  the  point  to  say,  "  It  is  the  doctrine 
of  the  church  that  damnation  is  threatened  to  all  impen- 
itent sinners  ?  "  Is  not  the  liturgy  a  part  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  church?  It  is  always  appealed  to  as  such,  and  it 
is  that  part  of  her  teachings,  which,  as  being  continually 
in  the  minds  and  mouths  of  her  members,  must  necessa- 
rily be  the  most  influential  in  forming  their  views  of  doc- 
trine. As  to  the  "articles,"  they  contain,  in  their  pres- 
ent form,  no  express  assertion  of  future  retributions  ;  the 
forty-second  of  King  Edward's  articles,  directed  against 
the  heresy  which  afi&rms  the  ultimate  salvation  of  all 
men,  having  been  dropped  in  the  Elizabethan  revision. 

But  even  if  there  were  any  such  assertion,  the  articles 
are  seldom  read,  and  comparatively  little  valued.  Their 
ineradicable  Calvinism  causes  them  to  be  looked  upon 
with  a  degree  of  coldness.  The  liturg}^  is  the  great 
Episcopal  exponent  of  doctrine.  Neither  is  it  any  more 
to  the  point  to  say  that  the  sinner  knows  the  declarations 


144:  OBJECTIONS    TO    EPISCOPAL    LITUKGY. 

of  Scripture  in  regard  to  the  finally  impenitent.  So 
does  the  avowed  Universalist;  but  his  clmrch  teaches 
him  to  put  a  construction  on  those  passages,  which  dis- 
arms them  of  their  terrors,  and  permits  him  to  believe, 
no  matter  what  his  character,  he  is  sure  of  Heaven  at 
last.  And  as  for  the  dying  agonies  of  wicked  men,  sug- 
gestive, as  these  must  certainly  be,  of  some  future  hor- 
ror, '•  the  church  "  does  her  best  to  counteract  the  impres- 
sion, by  assuring  the  spectators  that  these  agonies  are 
but  the  eccentric  presage  of  a  glorious  immortal it3^ 

The  explicit  teaching  of  a  man's  church  constantly 
dinned  in  his  ears  is  not  "a  little  matter,"'  as  Bishop 
Sherlock  disparagingly  calls  it.  Among '"churchmen  " 
generally,  the  church  is  regarded  as  the  authorized  ex- 
p)0under  of  Scripture.  The  individual  is  expressly 
warned  against  trusting  to  his  own  private  judgment. 
With  that  willingness,  therefore,  so  natural  to  man,  to 
escape  responsibility,  he  says,  my  church  teaches  that  if 
I  only  die  in  her  communion,  I  am  safe.  She  will  sol- 
emnly declare  over  my  grave  that  I  have  died  in  the 
Lord,  and  am  blessed  from  henceforth,  and  shall  have  my 
"perfect  consummation  and  bliss,  both  in  body  and  soul, 
in  God's  eternal  and  everlasting  glory."  If  I  am  de- 
ceived, it  is  she  has  deceived  me,  and  she,  not  I,  must 
answer  it. 

The  Kev.  Mason  Gallagher  of  the  Keformed  Episcopal 
Church,  having  referred  to  the  above  cited  words  of  the 
baptismal  service,  adds  :  ''  In  view  of  these  words,  how 
utterly  worthless  and  indefensible  was  the  declaration  of 
fifty  American  bishops,  in  1871,  that  the  word  regenerate 
in  the  ofiice  for  baptism  does  not  determine  a  moral  change 
in  the  recipient.  It  was  a  statement  etymologically,  his- 
torically and  doctrinally  erroneous.     It  was  another  ami- 


SCHEME    AND    REUNION   OF    1837-70.  145 

able,  but  desperate  and  vins-uccessful  attempt  to  reconcile 
the  Eomanism  and  Protestantism  of  the  book  of  common 
praver  ;  to  harmonize  truth  and  error  ;  to  keep  the  image 
of  cla}^  and  brass  upon  its  feet.  Thank  God,  this  unholy 
alliance  has  been  at  last  broken,  and  a  jDrayer  book  has 
been  at  length  framed  in  the  iVnglo-Saxon  tongue,  which 
makes  the  Word  of  God  supreme,  which  rejects  the  tra- 
ditions of  men,  and  by  which  those  who  hold  to  Komish 
error  and  Protestant  truth  cannot  worship  in  sincerity 
together."  ("Prayer  Book  Eevision  a  Duty  and  Neces- 
sity," by  Eev.  Mason  Gallagher,  p,  42.  Eeformed  Epis- 
copal Church  publications.) 

m: 

THE   SCHISM   AND    REUNION    OF    1837-70. 

Notwithstanding  the  cordial  reunion  of  the  old  and 
new  sides,  and  the  unification  of  the  entire  Presbyterian 
body,  by  means  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  1789,  the 
seeds  of  difiiculty  still  remained,  and,  by  the  close  of  the 
first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  developed  themselves 
in  strong  mutual  suspicions  and  jealousies.  The  "new 
side  "  reappeared  under  the  name  of  "  new  school,"  sym- 
pathizing warmly  with  New  England,  choosing  to  con- 
duct missionary  and  educational  enterprises  by  voluntary 
societies,  enthusiastic  for  the  revival,  and  carrying  it  on 
by  means  of  evangelists  and  protracted  meetings,  and 
moderate  in  its  type  of  Calvinism.  In  addition  to  these, 
and  eventually  swallowing  up  everything  else,  was  the 
difference  between  the  Northern  and  the  Southern  part 
of  the  church  on  the  question  of  slavery.  The  old 
school  side,  v/hile  also  earnest  for  the  revival,  was  op- 
posed to  the  doubtful  machinery  often  used  to  promote 
it,  watched  jealously  against  doctrinal   errors,  and  pre- 


146  SCHE^EE    AXD    REUNION    OF   1837-'70.. 

ferred  to  carry  on  the  evangelical  enterprises  of  the 
church  by  boards  created  by  the  General  Assembly,  and 
responsible  to  the  church  herself.  These  causes,  exas- 
perated by  the  passions  of  violent  and  domineering  men 
on  both  sides,  ripened  matters,  before  the  year  1837,  for 
another  schism.  The  "  old  school  "  party  found  them- 
selves a  majority  in  the  Assembly  of  that  yeai".  They 
proceeded  to  abrogate  (as  they  were  entirely  competent 
to  do  the  PLAN  OF  UNION  between  the  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists  as  unconstitutional.  Tiiey  proceeded 
further,  and  declared  it  void  ah  mitlo.  Then,  assuming 
(under  the  influence  of  an  unhappy  error  as  to  the  facts) 
that  the  Synods  of  Utica,  Geneva  and  Genesee  had  been 
formed  and  attached  to  the  General  Assembly  by  the 
operation  of  tliat  plan,  the  General  Assembly  declared 
that  they  never  had  made,  and  did  not  make,  a  part  of 
the  Presbj^terian  Church.  By  means  of  this  revolution- 
ary coup  d'eglise,  the  schism  of  1837  was  consummated. 
Protracted  law  suits  followed,  resu'lting  in  decisions,  first- 
for  the  old  and  then  for  the  new  school.  For  several 
j^ears,  there  was  a  strong  sentiment  of  suspicion  on  the 
one  side,  and  of  injury  on  the  other,  between  the  two 
bodies. 

But  there  soon  developed  itself,  on  the  part  of  what 
was  at  first  called  "  Young  Presbytery,"  a  feeling  of 
regret  and  shame  at  the  separation,  and  a  desire  for 
reunion.  The  new  school  side  became  more  zealous  for 
church  doctrine  and  order.  Irresponsible  evangelists 
began  to  be  disoountenanced.  The  conviction  grew 
that  the  close  relations  maintained  with  New  England 
Congregationalism  had  proved  detrimental  to  the  proper 
spirit  and  development  of  the  church.  V^oluntary  socie- 
ties lost  their  hold  on  the  confidence  of  the  presbyteries, 


PLAN    OF    UNION  OF  1801  147 

and  a  preference  for  chureli  boards  increased.  The  par- 
ties wiio  had  beeti  most  active  in  effecting  the  schism 
died,  or  ontlived  their  intiaence.  A  generation  grew  np 
who  had  talcen  no  pai't  in  the  unhappy  straggle,  and  felt 
no  interest  in  perpetuating  the  schism.  Finally,  the 
great  convulsion  of  the  civil  war  occurred,  and  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery,  which  had  proved  so  fatal  an  element 
of  discord  in  charch  and  state,  was  providentially 
removed.  There  seemed,  then,  no  further  reason  why 
the  two  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  were 
one  in  faith,  order,  and  sympathies,  should  be  longer 
separated  ;  so,  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  years,  by 
wise  and  fraternal  methods,  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
reunion  were  overcome.  The  two  "  branches  "  met,  by 
delegates,  in  conventions,  in  the  year  1869.  in  Pittsburg, 
dissolved  their  separate  organizations,  and  blended 
together  as  one  bod}^  The  year  following,  the  hrst 
reunited  General  Assembly  met  in  Philadelpliia. 

PLAN  OF  UNION  OF    ISOl. 

At  the  opening  of  the  present  century.  Central  and 
Western  New  York,  then  just  made  accessible  to  settlers 
by  the  construction  of  roads,  and  the  partial  extinguish- 
ment of  Indian  titles,  was  being  rapidly  pieopled  by 
immigrants  from  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  The  popu- 
lation in  1800  was  not  far  from  50,000.  The  colonists 
from  ISTew  England  were  Congregationalists.  Those 
from  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  mostly  Presbyte- 
rians, Faithful  and  laborious  missionaries  and  pastors 
came  with  them,  and  churches  were  multiplied.  The 
Congregationalists,  from  Connecticut,  and  the  Presbyte- 
rians, from  New  Jersey,  felt    no   mutual   antipathy  or 


148  PLAX    OF    UNION  OF  1801. 

jealousy.  The  ministers  nl]  united,  nt  first,  in  associa- 
tions, of  wliich,  in  1804,  tiiere  weie  three,  viz.,  Oneida, 
on  the  east,  Ontario,  on  the  west,  and,  between  them,  on 
the  military  tract,  (bounty  lands,  granted  by  the  state  to 
Revolutionaiy  soldiers,  and  embracing  the  counties  of 
Onondaga,  Cayuga.  Seneca,  Cortland,  Tompkins,  Oswego, 
and  Yates,)  the  middle  association.  The  first  presby- 
tery west  of  Albany,  the  Presbytery  of  Oneida,  was  set 
off  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1802. 

In  the  year  1801,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  acting  on  an  overture  from  the  Gen- 
eral Association  of  Connecticut,  adopted  a  "plan  of 
union  for  the  government  of  the  churches  in  the  new 
settlements."  Its  provisions  were,  substantially,  as  fol- 
lows :  First  The  missionaries,  both  of  the  General 
Assembly  and  of  the  General  Association  of  Connecti- 
cut, were  to  encourage  harmony  and  co-operation  among 
the  members,  on  both  sides.  Second.  A  Congregational 
Church,  having  a  Presbyterian  minister,  may  conduct 
their  own  government  Congregation all_y.  Any  diffi- 
culty between  the  minister  and  the  church,  to  be 
referred  to  his  presbytery,  if  both  parties  agree  to  it ;  if 
not,  to  a  mutual  council  of  Presbyterians  and  Congrega- 
tionalists,  in  equal  numbers.  71iird.  A  Presbyterian 
Church,  having  a  Congregational  minister,  to  conduct 
their  own  discipline  Presbyterially.  Any  difficulty 
between  the  minister  and  the  church,  to  be  referred  to 
his  association,  if  both  parties  agree  to  it ;  if  not,  to  a 
mutual  council  of  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians. 
Fourth.  When  a  congregation  consisted  part  of  Presby- 
terians and  part  of  Congregationalists,  they  were  advised 
to  unite  in  forming  a  church,  and  settling  a  minister, 
under    these   conditions;  viz.  :     To   choose   a   standing 


PLAN    OF    UNION  OF  18()1.  1^9 

committee  of  the  brethren,  to  conduct  discipline;  a  dis- 
ciplined member,  if  a  Presbyterian,  to  have  a  right  of 
appeal  to  presbytery  ;  if  a  Congregationalist,  to  the  body 
of  the  brotherhood ;  and  a  delegate  from  the  standing 
committee,  to  have  the  same  rights  in  presbytery  as  a 
ruling  elder. 

This  plan  was  eminently  wise  and  liberal,  and  opera- 
ted most  favorably  for  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
"  churches  in  the  new  settlements."  Strictly  speaking, 
however,  it  was,  of  course,  unconstitutional,  since  it 
admitted  persons  to  act  in  Presbyterian  courts  who  were 
not  presbyters,  and  were  wholly  unknown  to  the  constitu- 
tion. The  General  Assemblv,  therefore,  having  some 
time  before  requested  the  General  Association  of  Con- 
necticut, to  unite  in  am.icably  dissolving  this  plan  of 
union,  of  which  the  Association  took  no  notice,  was 
entirely  competent  to  discard  the  plan,  as  was  regularly 
done  in  the  year  1837.  The  mistake  and  wrong  of  the 
exscinding  assemblj^  was  in  assuming  that  the  Synods  of 
Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee,  were  made  up  of  Congre- 
gational Churches,  which  had  been  formed  and  attached 
to  the  Presbyterian  Church  by  the  operation  of  the  plan 
of  union  ;  and  as  that  plan  was  declared  unconstitu- 
tional and  void,  ah  initio^  these  synods  '*  were  not,  in 
form  or  in  fact,  an  integral  part  of  said  church  ;''  whereas, 
in  truth,  no  Congregational  Church,  with  a  single  tem- 
porary exception,  (Geneseo)  was  ever  attached  to  a  pres- 
byter}^  by  that  plan.  The  Assembly,  therefore,  in 
assuming  that  they  had  struck  away  the  basis  on  which 
those  synods  were  built,  and  that,  in  consequence,  they 
fell  out  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  ex-necessitate  rei^ 
were  guilty  not  only  of  a  wrong,  but  of  a  historical  blun- 
der.    Up  to  the  year  1808,  there  was  not  a  church  con- 


150  ACCOMMODATION    PLAN   OF    1808. 

nected  with  any  presbytery  in  Western  New  York,  that 
was  not  itself  strictly  Presbyterian;  and  no  case  such  as 
is  contemplated  in  article  third,  of  a  Congregational  min- 
ister being  settled  over  a  Presbyterian  Church,  ever 
occurred.  The  minister,  in  such  a  case,  always  became 
connected  with  a  presbytery,  before  his  installation. 

o 

ACCOMMODATION  PLAN  OF  1808. 

How,  then,  did  Congregational  Churches  come  to  be 
connected  with  presbyteries  in  Western  New  York  ?  In 
this  way :  By  the  year  1807,  there  were  two  presbyte 
ries  in  Western  New  York  —  that  of  Oneida,  already 
mentioned,  and  that  of  Geneva,  organized  in  1805,  both 
connected  with  the  Synod  of  Albany.  The  ministers 
composing  the  Congregational  associations,  on  the  same 
ground,  were,  also,  in  many  cases,  by  a  somewhat  pecu- 
liar arrangement,  members  of  Presbytery.  The  two 
instances  in  which  this  was  first  permitted,  and  which 
established  the  precedent,  were  those  of  Eev.  Mr.  Hig- 
gins,  of  the  Church  of  Aurelius,  and  Eev.  Mr.  Woodruff, 
pastor  of  the  Church  in  Scipio,  in  Cayuga  County,  both 
of  them  admitted  to  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva,  while 
still  retaining  their  membership  in  the  middle  associa- 
tion. This  simple,  though  irregular,  proceeding  opened 
the  way  for  the  entire  dissolution  of  the  Congregational 
Associaticins  in  Western  New  York,  which  soon  fol- 
lowed. In  the  year  1807,  the  middle  association  sent  a 
memorial  to  the  Synod  of  Albany,  then  sitting  at  Coop- 
erstown,  requesting  to  be  incorporated  into  the  synod, 
reserving,  at  the  same  time,  to  their  churches  the  right 
of  Congregational  government.  The  synod  assented  to 
this  proposition,  agreeing  to  leave  the  churches  of  the 


ACCOMMODATION'    PLAN    OF    ISOS.  151 

association  undisturbed  in  the  administration  of  Congre- 
gational government,  and  to  receive  delegates  from  them 
on  the  same  footing  as  ruling  elders.  This  did  not,  of 
itself,  operate  to  dissolve  the  middle  association,  which, 
however,  was  effected  in  1810,  in  the  following  w^ay  : 
The  Synod  of  Albany,  in  that  year,  organized  all  the 
churches  belonging  to  the  middle  association,  and  the 
Presbytery  of  Geneva,  into  the  three  presbyteries  of 
Geneva,  Cayuga,  and  Onondaga.  The  middle  associa- 
tion quietly  expired,  bequeathing  its  assets  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  And  thus  organized  Congregationalism 
disappeared  from  the  "military  tract."  The  General 
Assembl}^  of  1808,  approved  the  act  of  the  Synod  of 
Albany,  and  the  principle  thus  established  —  that  a  Con- 
gregational Church  might  be  connected  with  presbytery, 
on  the  "  accommodation  plan,"  as  it  was  termed,  retain- 
ing its  own  internal  discipline,  and  being  represented  in 
Presbyterian  Church  courts  by  a  lay  delegate,  became 
fruitful,  in  the  rapid  absorption  of.  all  the  Congrega- 
tional Churches  in  Western  JSTew  York  into  the  Presby- 
terian body.  The  Ontario  Association  was  dissolved  in 
1812  ;  the  Union  Association,  of  Oneida,  in  1822  ;  and, 
with  this,  the  last  remnant  of  distinctive  Congregation- 
alism disappeared  from  all  the  central  and  western  part 
of  the  state.  Many  Congregational  Churches  were,  sub- 
sequently, organized,  but  all  connected  themselves,  at 
their  origin,  with  some  presbyter}^,  on  the  accommoda- 
tion plan. 

It  was  not  at  all,  therefore,  by  the  plan  of  union  of 
1801,  as  the  General  Assembly  assumed,  but  wholly  by 
the  "accommodation  plan,"  of  1807,  sanctioned  by  the 
General  Assembly  itself,  in  1808,  that  the  Congrega- 
tional Churches  within    the  bounds  of  the  Synods   of 


152  ENGLISH    PLAN'    OF    UNION    OF    1690. 

Utica,  Greneva,  and  Genesee,  came  to  be  incorporated 
into  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  exscinding  Assem- 
bly, however,  apparently  acted  on  Yoltaire's  principle, 
that  it  is  more  important  to  strike  hard,  than  to  hit  in 
the  right  place.  The  plan  of  1803  did  the  mischief,  and 
they  punished  the  innocent  plan  of  1801. 

ENGLISH  PLAN  OF  UNION,  OF    1690. 

The  Church  in  England,  formerly  called  Presbyterian, 
became,  to  a  great  extent,  Congregationalized,  before  its 
defection  to  Socinianism.  A  lax  plan  of  union  was 
entered  into  between  it  and  the  Independent  Churches, 
soon  after  the  revolution  of  1688,  by  which  the  former 
parted  with  the  essential  conservative  features  of  Pres- 
byterianism.  The  "heads  of  agreement"  are  given  in 
Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  ii,  p.  228.  Whoever  compares 
this  plan  with  the  Cambridge  Platform,  will  see  that 
the  latter  contains  far  more  elements  of  Presbyterianism 
than  the  former.  The  plan  of  union  merely  allows, 
without  requiring,  a  ruling  eldership,  which  the  Cam- 
bridge and  Saybrook  platforms  insist  upon  ;  and  this 
mere  permission  is  the  only  vestige  of  Presbyterian  gov- 
ernment incorporated  in  the  English  plan.  It  contains 
no  recognition  of  any  ecclesiastical  authority,  beyond  the 
local  church ;  no  provision  for  appeals  or  complaints, 
and  nothing  requiring  ministers  to  assent  to  any  form  of 
doctrine  at  their  ordination.  The  churches  were  left  free 
to  choose  as  their  creed,  either  the  Westminster  confes- 
sion, the  Savoy,  or  the  thirty-nine  articles.  The  result 
of  the  whole  was,  that  the  Presbyterian  Churches  became 
Congregational  Churches  of  a  very  loose  t^^pe  ;  and  from 
this  they  slid,  impercepti^bly,  but  rapidly,  into  gross  doc- 


INVITATION   TO   THE     LORDS    SUPPER.  153 

trinal  errors.  They  merely  retained,  in  part,  the  Pres- 
byterian name,  for  the  sake  of  retaining  their  hold  on 
certain  vested  funds  ;  acting  in  this  with  the  same  dis- 
honesty as  the  Massachusetts  Churches,  which  continued 
to  grasp  and  use,  as  Unitarians,  the  funds  which  had 
been  given  them  for  the  support  of  evangelical  doctrine. 
Only  in  England,  less  fortunate  than  in  this  country, 
the  law  stripped  them  of  their  dishonest  plunder.  It  is 
important  to  remember,  that  it  was  Congregational,  and 
not  Presbyterian  Churches,  in  England,  that  were  swept 
away  into  Arian  errors. 

Q 

THE  DIRECTORY  FOR  WORSHIP,  ON  THE  FORM  OF  INVITA- 
TION TO  THE  lord's   SUPPER. 

In  answer  to  an  overture,  inquiring  "  whether  it 
accords  with  the  standards,  and  the  spirit  of  the  church, 
to  admit  persons  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  who  are  not 
members  of  the  visible  church,"  the  Greneral  Assembly, 
of  1876,  replied,  that  "it  is  not  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  invite  any  persons 
to  the  Lord's  Sapper,  who  are  not  members  of  the  visi- 
ble church.-'^  The  language  of  the  book,  relied  on  by 
some  to  authorize  indiscriminate  communion,  (Directory, 
VIII,  4,)  is  not  correctly  interpreted  by  them.  Although, 
in  describing  the  persons  there  invited  to  the  Lord's 
table,  church  membership  is  not  mentioned,  it  is  clearly 
implied."     (Minutes,  1876,  p.  79.) 

In  reviewing  this  judgment,  it  is  proper  to  inquire  : 

*  The  overture  of  1872  conti.iecl  itself  to  the  inctuiry,  ''Whether  it  accords  with 
the  S2)irit  and  usage  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  invite  persons  —  believers  — 
not  members  of  any  evangelical  church,  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Sapper."  To 
that  precise  question,  no  reference  whatever  bein^  made  to  the  teaching  of  the 
''  standard?,"  the  General  Assejably  replied,  no  doubt  correctly,  in  the  negative. 
Minutes,  1872,  p,  89.) 


15i  JJIKECTORY    FOR   WORSHIP   ON   THE   FORM 

1.  What  is  the  actual  doctrine  of  the  standards  on  the 
subject  ?  "  The  universal  church  (Form  of  Government : 
II,  1,)  consists  of  all  those  persons,  in  every  nation, 
together  with  their  children,  who  make  profession  of  the 
holy  leligion  of  Christ,  and  of  submission  to  His  laws." 
A  particular  church  (chap,  ii,  4,)  is  merely  a  section,  or 
smaller  part,  of  this  universal  church,  organized  local  1}', 
for  the  reason  that  "  this  immense  multitude  cannot 
meet  together"  in  one  place,  to' hold  communion,  or  to 
worship  God."  The  character  of  the  members  of  the 
•universal  and  the  particular  church  is,  of  course,  and  by 
express  definition,  the  same  They  are  "  professing 
Christians,  and  their  children."  The  ground  of  their 
union  is  the  same  ;  they  are  to  live  by  the  same  rule. 
But,  as  no  limits  are  prescribed  to  the  size  of  the  particu- 
lar church,  it  consists  of  so  many  of  the  members  of  the 
universal  church  as,  on  account  of  local  convenience,  or 
other  reasons,  are  "  voluntarily  associated  together." 
Their  voluntary  association  consists  in  this  —  that  they 
are,  by  their  own  choice,  members  of  the  congregation. 

It  is  the  members  of  the  particular  church  or  congre- 
gation (for  the  terms  are  used  interchangeably,  Directory, 
X,  7,)  that  are  regularly  to  commune  together  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  —  that  is,  a  small  portion  of  that  uni- 
versal church  scattered  throughout  the  world,  which  con- 
sists of  "  all  those  who  make  profession  of  the  holy  relig- 
ion of  Christ,  and  of  obedience  to  His  laws."  Every 
such  person  having  been  duly  baptized  is  a  member  of 
the  church  ;  and,  if  free  from  certain  disqualifications 
which  remain  to  be  mentioned,  "  it  is  his  duty  and  priv- 
ilege to  come  to  the  Lord's  table." 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  "  standards  :  "  "  Children 
born  within  the  pale  of  the  visible  church,  and  dedicated 


OF   INVITATIOX  TO   THE   LORDS   SUPPER.  155 

to  God,  are  under  the  inspection  and  government  of  the 
church,  and  are  to  be  taught  to  read  and  repeat  the  cate- 
chism, the  apostles'  creed,  and  the  Lords  prayer.  Thev 
are  to  be  taught  to  pray,  to  abhor  sin,  to  fear  God  and 
to  obey  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  when  the}^  come  to 
years  of  discretion,  if  they  are  free  from  scandal,  appear 
sober  and  steadj^,  and  have  sufficient  knowledge  to  dis- 
cern tlie  Lord's  body,  they  ought  to  be  informed  it  is 
their  duty  and  privilege  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper." 
Now,  applying  these  definitions  to  chapter  Yiii,  "  of  the 
administraiion  of  ilie  Lords  Saiyper^^^  we  are  left  in  no 
doubt  what  persons  it  is  that  are  to  be  invited  to  com- 
mune, viz.  : 

1.  It  is,  in  general,  members  of  the  church  or  congre- 
gation, that  is  to  say,  all  baptized  persons  who  are  other- 
wise unexceptionable. 

2.  Of  this  church  or  congregation,  the  profane,  io-no- 
rant  and  scandalous,  and  those  that  secretlv  indulo-P 
then:fseives  in  any  known  sin,  are  to  be  warned  not  to 
approach  the  holy  table.     (Chap,  viii,  8.) 

3.  The  minister  is  to  invite  all  the  congregation  (see 
chap.  VIII,  3 ;  that  all  may  come,  &c.),  under  the  three 
following  specifications,  viz.  : 

a.  Such  as  being  sensible  of  their  lost  and  helpless 
condition  by  sin,  depend  upon  the  atonement  of  Christ 
for  pardon  and  acceptance  with  God. 

h.  Such  as,  being  instructed  in  the  Gospel  doctrine 
have  a  competent  knowledge  to  discern  the  Lord's  body. 

c.  And  such  as  desire  to  renounce  their  sins,  and^are 
determined  to  lead  a  holj'  and  Godly  life. 

That  this  is  not  a  mere  cumulative  description  of  the 
same  class  of  persons,  that  is,  trulj^  regenerated  persons 
but   a   specification   of   three   different   descriptions   or 


156  DIRECTORY    FOR    WORSHll'    OX    THE    FORM 

classes,  appears  from  the  style  ilself ;  the  discriminating 
words  "  such  as "  being  thrice  repeated.  The  three 
classes,  therefore,  are, 

First.  Traly  converted  persons  ;  ^^  sack  as  depend  upon 
the  atonement  of  Christ  for  pardon^  being  sensible  of  their 
lost  and  helpless  state  by  sin^  This  is  the  description  ot 
true  Christians. 

Second.  Birth-right  members  of  the  church,  who,  with- 
out making  any  special  profession  of  having  experienced 
the  renewing  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  "  instructed 
in  the  Gospel  doctrine  and  have  a  competent  knowledge 
to  discern  the  Lord's  hoUj.  (See  chap,  ix,  1.)  These 
persons  are,  in  the  language  of  the  standards,  "young 
Christians  ;  "  and  being  sober  and  steady,  free  from  scan- 
dal, and  having  sufficient  knowledge  to  discern  the  Lord's 
body,  it  is  their  duty  and  privilege  to  come  to  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

The  third  class  consists  of  those  who  may  be  called 
seekers  ov  penitents  ;  such  as  have  lived  estranged  from 
the  church  and  her  ordinances,  but  now  "  desire  to 
renounce  their  sins,  and  to  lead  a  holy  and  a  Godly  life." 

It  appears  then,  from  the  standards,  that  as  concerns 
the  question  of  an  invitation  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  the 
church  and  congregation  are  one  ;  all  being  regarded  as 
suitable  communicants  who  are  not  profane,  ignorant  or 
scandalous.  Those  who  are  so,  are  to  be  warned  not  to 
come,  they  themselves  being  the  judges  of  their  own  fit- 
ness for  communion.  The  examination  in  respect  to  the 
knowledge  and  piety  of  "  young  Ciiristians,"  has  respect 
only  to  those  who  are  to  be  regularly  admitted  to  sealing 
ordinances  at  their  first  communion.  (Directory,  ix,  2, 
3.)  Every  baptized  member  of  a  congregation,  there- 
fore, is  a  member  of  the  church,  and,  if  not  ignorant  or 


OF   INVITATION  TO  THE   LORD's  SUPPEE.  157 

scandalous,  it  is  his  duty  and  privilege  to  come  to  tlie 
Lord's  Slipper.  Of  course,  ii  is  the  duty  of  the  minis- 
ter to  invite  him. 

If  we  now  turn  from  the  standards  themselves  to  the 
debates  in  the  Westminster  Assembly,  on  the  subject  of 
admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  we  find  the  actual  views 
of  the  framers  of  our  symbols  clearly  exhibited.  The 
question  before  their  minds,  in  every  discussion  of  this 
point,  was  not,  what  persons  might  be  included  as  of  suf- 
ficiently credible  piety  to  qualify  them  for  communion, 
but  only  what  persons  it  was  necessarj^  to  exclude  for 
their  ignorance  and  vices.  All  the  members  of  the  con- 
gregation (being  baptized  Christians)  were  presumptively 
proper  communicants  ;  and  a  clear  case  must  be  made 
out  against  any  man  in  order  to  exclude  him.  Whether 
this  exclusion  necessarily  implied  excommunication,  or 
only  an  official  warning  to  such 'persons  not  to  come  to 
the  Lord's  table  while  impenitent,  was  the  great  point  on 
which  the  discussion  turned.  Leading  Presbyterian 
divines,  such  as  Gillespie,  Reynolds,  Herle,  Marshall  and 
Calamy,  maintained  the  latter,  and  their  view  was  finally 
incorporated  in  the  standards.  "The  minister  is  to  ream 
the  profane,  the  ignorant  and  the  scandalous,  &c."  The 
implication  is  that  such  persons,  being  members  of  the 
church,  might  be  disposed  to  attend  the  communion,  as 
was  always  the  case  in  England  so  long  as  test  acts 
remained  in  force.  The  minister  is  not  to  excommuni- 
cate such  persons,  but  simply  to  warn  them  not  to 
approach,  until  penitent,  the  holy  table.  After  elaborate 
diwscussion  on  question  173  of  the  larger  catechism,  ^^  May 
any  ivho  j^rofess  the  faith  and  desire  to  come  unto  the  Lord's 
Supper  he  kept  from  itf  "  the  answer  finally  adopted  was, 
as  it  now  stands,  "  such  as  are  found  to  be  ignorant  or 


158  DIRECTORY    FOR   WORSHIP   ON    THE    FORM 

scandalous,  notwithstanding  their  profession  of  the  faith 
and  desire  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  may  and  ought 
to  be  kept  from  the  sacrament,  until  they  receive  instruc- 
tion and  manifest  their  reformation."  ^'' 

The  whole  question  before  the  Assembly  was,  simply, 
whether  pastors  had  the  right  to  keep  anybody  from  the 
Lord's  table,  who  was  disposed  to  attend.  The  Erastian 
members  maintained  the  negative.  Their  principle  was, 
that  the  church,  as  such,  had  no  power  of  discipline 
whatever.  In  that  matter  she  was  merely  the  servant 
and  organ  of  the  state  ;  and,  even  evangelical  members, 
like  Groodwin,  Gillespie,  and  Lightfoot  himself,  held  that 
none  could  be  debarred  from  communion,  except  such 
as  were  actually  exconmiunicated  ;  but  that  ever}^  mem- 
ber of  the  congregation  who  was  neither  ignorant  or 
scandalous,  might  and  ought  to  commune,  was  univers- 
ally agreed. 

This  unanimous  agreement  infallibly  interprets  the 
language  of  the  Confession,  though  that  language  itself 
is  so  plain,  that  it  might  be  supposed  to  need  no  inter- 
pretation. It  shows  that,  in  the  intendment  of  the 
"  standards,"  all  baptized  members  of  the  congregation 
are  members  of  the  church,  and  are  presumptively 
entitled  to  communion  ;  that  among  these,  such  as  are 
profane,  ignorant,  or  scandalous,  are  to  be  debarred  from 

*  Note.  —  To  the  same  effect  is  the  rubric  introductorj'  to  the  communion  ser- 
vice, in  the  Episcopal  book  of  common  prayer.  ''  If,  among  those  who  come  to 
be  partakers  of  the  holy  communion,  the  minister  shall  know  any  to  be  an  open 
and  notorious  evil  liver,  or  to  have  done  any  wrong  to  his  neighbors  by  word  or 
deed,  so  that  the  congregation  be  thereby  offended,  he  shall  advertise  him,  that 
he  presume  not  to  come  to  the  Lord's  table,  until  be  have  openly  declared  him- 
self to  have  truly  repented  and  amended  his  former  evil  life,  that  the  congrega- 
tion may  thereliy  be  satisfied,  and  that  he  hath  recompensed  the  parties  lo  whom 
he  hath  done  wrong,  or  at  least  declare  himself  to  be  in  full  purpose  to  do  so  as 
soon  as  he  conveniently  may." 


OF  INVITATIO^T  TO  THE   LORD's   SUPPER  159 

coming,  and  tliat  all  others  are  expressly  to  be  invited, 
under  the  three  specifications  already  stated. 

According  to  the  standards,  therefore,  the  invitation 
to  commune  at  the  Lord's  table  is  to  be  addressed  to 
persons,  not  as  "  members  of  evangelical  churches,  in 
good  and  regular  standing,"  but  as  coming  under  one  or 
the  other  of  these  descriptions;  that  is,  they  are  invited, 
not  with  reference  to  their  ecclesiastical  standing,  but 
with  reference  to  their  own  sense  of  their  sins,  their 
wants,  and  their  desires  for  pardoning  and  strengthening 
grace.  .The  superior  fitness  of  an  invitation  in  this  form 
would  seem  to  be  obvious. 

2.  But  the  question  as  to  the  "spirit"  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  on  this  point,  meaning,  thereby,  its  pre- 
vailing sentiment  and  practice,  is  a  different  one,  and 
requires  a  different  answer.  The  abuses  connected  with 
indiscriminate  communion  in  the -Established  Church  of 
England  led  the  more  earnest  and  faithful  pastors,  like 
Baxter,  to  insist  on  the  distinction  between  worthy  and 
unworthy  communicants.  It  seemed  intolerable  to  them, 
that  grossly  ignorant,  profane  and  scandalous  4)ersons 
should  make  ihe  solemn  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
a  mere  convenience  for  procuring  worldly  benefits,  as  a 
fellowship  in  a  university,  or  a  commission  in  the  army. 
They  began,  therefore,  to  draw  the  line  between  the 
"  church  "  and  the  "  congregation,"  regarding  the  ignor- 
ant and  profane,  even  though  baptized,  and,  therefore, 
in  the  general  sense,  members  of  the  church,  as  not,  in 
such  a  special  sense,  members  as  to  entitle  them  to  com- 
munion. This  gradually  developed  into  that  distinctive- 
ly Independent  and  Presbyterian  view,  which  makes 
nothing  at  all  of  birth-right  membership  in  the  church, 
and,  consequentl3^  disparages  infant  baptism,  as  effect- 


160  DIRECTOKY    FOR   WORSHIP    ON   THE    FORM 

ing  no  change  in  even  the  outward  relations  of  the  sub- 
ject. 

That  this  is  the  actual  view  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  it  is  impossible  to  deny.  Baptized  children  are 
not  regarded,  among  us,  as,  in  any  sense  whatever, 
church  members.  "When  adults,  who  had  been  baptized 
in  infancy,  present  themselves  before  the  session,  and 
are  received,  on  giving  credible  evidence  of  piety,  they 
are  regarded,  and  spoken  of,  as  "joining  the  church," 
whereas,  the  standards  declare  that  they  are  already 
members  of  the  church,  both  general  and  particular.  It 
is  only  unbaptized  persons  who  are  spoken  of  in  the 
directory,  as  being  "admitted  to  the  church."'  (ix,  4.) 
Having  thus  thrown  contempt  on  infant  baptism,  it  is 
highly  inconsequent  to  complain  that  the  ordinance 
falls  into  disuse  in  our  churches. 

There  is  here,  therefore,  as  not  infrequently  happens 
with  any  constitution  of  some  antiquity,  a  direct  antago- 
nism between  the  text  and  the  comment,  or  the  require- 
ments of  the  statute  and  the  actual  practice  under  it.  A 
constitution  remains  stationary,  but  society  advances. 
The  creed  is  stereotyped,  while  men's  opinions  are  set  up 
in  movable  forms.  In  actual  practice,  errata  are  silently 
and  insensibly  corrected,  defects  supplied,  or  superfluities 
dropped  out,  while  the  "  standards  "  retain  their  fixed 
and  solid  shape.  Inevitablj^,  therefore,  there  comes, 
sooner  or  later,  in  all  churches,  and  in  all  constitutional 
governments,  a  collision  between  the  statute  and  the 
interpretation. 

Which  is  to  give  away?  The  constitution  requires 
one  thing,  the  received  usage  demands  another,  and  the 
usage,  by  prescription,  comes  to  be  a  kind  of  unwritten 
constitution,  which  claims  precedence  of  the  other,  and 


OF   INVITATION   TO  THE   LOED's   SUPPEE.  161 

has  an  independent  life  and  authority  of  its  own.  I 
observe,  in  my  garden,  that  the  canes  of  the  ^'  black- 
cap "  raspberries  root  themselves  at  their  extremity  in  the 
earth,  and  set  up  an  independent  life  of  their  own. 
They  had  previously  been  nourished  wholly  from  the 
parent  root,  the  sap  flowing  out  to  the  very  tip,  and  giv- 
ing an  organic  unity  to  the  whole.  But  in  the  newly 
rooted  plant  the  sap  soon  begins  to  flow  the  other  way. 
The  young  cane  sets  up  an  opposition  life  against  the 
old.  The  result  is,  that,  somewhere,  the  opposing  cur- 
rents meet.  There  is  a  disintegration  and  rupture,  and 
the  schism  becomes  complete. 

So  the  practice  of  a  church  becomes,  at  length,  by 
being  rooted  for  some  time  in  the  soil  of  opinion,  dis- 
tinct and  separate  from  the  life  it  was  originallj^  derived 
from. 

It  becomes,  then,  or  may  become,  a  grave  question, 
when  the  practice  of  the  church  contradicts  (as  in  this 
case)  its  written  constitution,  to  which  of  the  two  alle- 
giance is  owed.  That  the  .practice,  or  the  ''spirit"  of  a 
church  cannot  always  claim  the  right  to  overrule  its 
fundamental  law,  will  be  easih^  acknowledged.  The 
Jewish  Church  was,  for  long  periods,  sunk  in  idolatry, 
even  to  the  utter  loss,  or  neglect,  of  the  Mosaic  statutes ; 
and  yet,  it  was  the  duty  of  a  reforming  prince  to  disre- 
gard the  established  custom,  and  bring  the  people  back 
to  the  law  of  the  "standards."  The  church,  after  the 
middle  of  the  fourth  century,  subscribed,  almost  unani- 
iTiously,  a  semi-Arian  confession  ;  but  the  fliith  remained 
as  laid  down  by  the  first  general  council,  and  to  that 
every  Christian  owed  his  allegiance,  and  not  to  the  pre- 
vailing "spirit  of  the  church."  If  the  prevailing  inter- 
pretation and  the  spirit  of  the  church  contains  the  abso- 


162  ON   THE    DEMISSION 

lute  law,  as  against  the  standards,  then  the  reformers  and 
the  Puritans  were  precluded,  and  had  no  w^arrant  in  at- 
tempting to  bring  back  the  church  to  her  original  platform. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  admitted,  in  regard  to 
adiaphora^  that  a  long  established  interpretation  must 
often  have  the  force  of  an  unwritten  amendment.  Jesus 
partook  of  the  Passover,  not  according  to  the  mode 
expressly  required  in  the  original  statute,  with  staff  in 
hand  and  shoes  on  feet,  but  in  the  method  which  had 
gradually  come  to  prevail  in  its  stead.  The  moral  law 
he  cleared  of  all  traditionary  glosses  and  interpretations, 
and  enforced  it  in  its  original  strictness ;  but  a  positive 
statute  he  allowed  to  be  modified  by  the  "  change  of 
times,  circumstances,  and  men's  manners."  It  might  be 
a  sacred  duty,  therefore,  to  resist  the  "  spirit  of  the 
church,"  when  it  required  heresj^  in  doctrine,  or  idola- 
try in  worship,  and,  at  the  same  time,  rash  and  unjustifi- 
able, to  assail  it,  when  it  merely  requires  a  change  in  the 
mode  of  administering  an  ordinance.  In  indifferent 
things,  prescription  must  often  have  the  force  of  law  ; 
but  then,  it  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  the  begin- 
ning of  corruption  in  worship,  like  the  beginning  of 
strife,  is  as  wlten  one  letteth  out  water.  "  Nettle  roots 
(observes  Lord  Bacon)  do  not  sting;"  and  an  enlight- 
ened Christian  conscience  must  arbitrate  the  question, 
whether  we  are  bound  by  an  extra  constitutional  cus- 
tom, or  whether  we  are  entitled,  or  even  bound,  to  fall 
back  on  the  constitution  itself. 

R 

ON  THE  DEMISSION  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

The  necessity  for  some  provision  for  the  demission  of 
the  ministry  has  become  so  urgent,  that  repeated  appli- 


OF   THE    MIN'ISTRY.  163 

cations  have  been  made  to  the  Greneral  Assembly,  to 
provide  a  form,  under  which  it  might  receive  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  church.  In  the  year  1872,  the  Presbytery  of 
ISTew  York  overtured  the  Assembly,  requesting  answers 
to  the  following  questions,  viz.  : 

1.  "  Whether,  when  a  minister,  in  good  standing,  is 
deliberately  convinced  that  he  is  providentially  released 
from  the  duties  of  his  ofhce,  he  may  not,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  presbytery,  demit  that  ofl&ce  ?  " 

2.  "And,  in  case  a  presbytery  is  convinced  that  any 
one  of  its  ministers,  for  any  reason,  not  calling  for  disci- 
pline, is  permanently  disqualified  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  may  not  that  presbytery,  with  the  consent  of 
the  synod,  cancel  the  ordination  of  that  minister  ?  '' 

The  committee,  to  whom  this  overture  was  referred, 
argued,  in  reph^ :  First.  "  That  the  sentiment  of  the 
Christian  Church,  generally,  has  affirmed  the  indelible 
character  of  ordination."  This  is  easily  admitted  to  be 
true.  The  Grreek,  Romish  and  Episcopal  Churches  have 
always  maintained  that  doctrine.  Second.  That  wdiile 
our  standards  "  make  no  well  defined  statement  upon  the 
subject,"  it  may  be  inferred,  from  the  perpetual  charac- 
ter of  the  offices  of  deacon  and  elder,  of  neither  of  which 
can  anj^  man  be  divested,  except  by  deposition,  that  the 
higher  office  —  that  of  the  ministry  —  cannot  be  less  per- 
manent. 

The  committee,  however,  acknowledge  that  the  sec- 
ond hook  of  discipline  of  the  Scottish  Kirk,  "  upon 
which  our  own  form  of  government  is  based,  makes  an 
apparent  exception  to  this."  It  directs  (chap,  vii,  25, 
26,)  that  "  those  ministers  ivho  are  found  wholly  insufficient 
to  execute  their  charge^  shall  he  derposed!'^  This  insuffi- 
ciency, the  committee  think,  ''appears  to  be  of  such  a 


164  ON   THE    DEMISSION 

nature  as  to  call  for  discipline,  for  the  penalty  is  deposi- 
tion." But  this  view  is  contradicted  b}^  the  context. 
In  the  previous  paragraph  the  book  directs  that  minis- 
ters heretical  in  doctrine,  and  immoral  in  life,  (under 
numerous  specifications)  shall  be  deposed  It  then  adds 
the  separate  clause  above  quoted,  making  the  "alto- 
gether insufficient "  a  distinct  class  from  those  guilty  of 
any  moral  offense.  In  their  case  the  word  "  deposed  " 
only  means  divested  of  the  ministerial  office,  with  no  other 
stigma  than  is  implied  in  the  fact,  that  they  were  found 
insufficient  for  it.  Third.  The  committee  think  there 
can  be  little  need  for  any  such  measure,  since  so  extreme 
a  care  is  exercised  in  admitting  candidates  to  the  minis- 
try, that  very  few  incompetent  persons  will  be  found  on 
the  roll. 

Unfortunately,    this    is    too    favorable    a  judgment 
The    injudicious    encouragement    sometimes    given   to 
young  men  to  enter  the  ministry,  the  rivalry  betweer 
theological  schools,  each  holding  out  inducements  to  stu 
dents  to  enter  its  doors,  the  too  often  superficial  charac 
ter  of  the  examination  for  licensure,  and  the  fact  that,  to 
a  man  once  licensed,  ordination  is  almost  never  refused, 
these  causes   will,   from  time  to    time,    introduce    into 
the  ministry  some  whose  duty  it  was  to  "  glorify  God  by 
making  besoms,"  or   in    some  other  respectable  handi- 
craft.    Add   to   these    the   causes   which    make    many 
ordained  ministers    "altogether   insufficient"  for   their 
work,  such  as  the  loss  of  voice,  the  failure  of  health,  the 
impossibility  of  finding  a  pulpit,  inadequacy  of  support, 
discouragement,  lack  of  all  interest  in  the  ministry,  yet 
not  such  as  to  call  for  discipline,  and  we  have  an  array 
of  causes  which  have    notoriously  introduced  into  the 
Presbyterian  ministry  a  considerable  number  of  persons. 


OF   THE    MINISTRY.  165 

stamped  with  the  indelible  mark  of  office,  to  whom,  as 
well  as  to  the  church  herself,  it  would  be  of  immense 
advantage,  if  a  back  door  could  be  opened,  through 
which  they  could  cjuietly  step  out  into  secular  life. 
Many  persons  who  are,  and  for  years  have  been,  wholly 
secularized,  are  still  burdened  with  the  title  of  "Eever- 
end,"'  their  names  borne  on  the  roll  of  presbytery,  and 
regularly  reported  in  the  minutes  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly. One  effect  of  this  is,  considerabl}^  to  swell  the 
apparent  strength  of  the  ministry,  while,  in  fact,  the 
"altogether  insufficient,"  or  secular,  character  of  the 
parties  tends  far  more  to  reduce  that  strength,  than 
wc-dd  their  entire  subtraction  fi*om  the  roll.  Numbers 
of  tnem  would  welcome  a  provision,  by  which,  without 
stigma  or  reproach,  they  could  be  divested  of  the  office. 
At  present,  however  obviously  a  Presbyterian  minister 
may  have  mistaken  his  calling,  and  however  insufficient 
he  may  be  for  the  discharge  of  its  duties,  there  are  only 
two  grim  figures  whose  hands  can  efface  the  marks  of 
ordination  from  his  person  ;  the  one  is  infamy,  the  other, 
death. 

In  view  of  the  whole  case,  the  committee  recommended 
the  following  overture,  which  was  ordered  to  be  sent 
down  to  the  presbyteries,  viz.  :  "  Shall  the  following 
section  be  added  to  chapter  twenty-five  of  the  Form  of 
Government,  to  wit :  The  office  of  a  minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel is  perpetual.  No  one  can  lay  it  aside,  at  his  own 
pleasure,  or  be  deprived  of  it,  but  by  deposition.  Yet, 
for  reasons  not  calling  for  discipline,  Firsts  A  minister 
may,  on  his  own  request,  and  with  the  permission  of  the 
presbytery,  cease  to  be  an  acting  minister ;  or,  Second, 
If  a  presbytery  is  convinced  that  a  minister  is  perma- 
nently disqualified  for  the  ministerial  work,  (except  by 


iOG  ON    THE    1>EM1SSI0N 

age,  sickness,  or  other  accidents,)  it  may,  with  tlie  con- 
sent of  synod,  after  three  months  notice  to  such  minis- 
ter, require  him  to  demit  the  functions  of  his  office,  it 
being  understood  that  he  will  still  be  a  member  of  the 
church,  and  eligible  to  the  office  of  ruling  elder,  or  dea- 
con. Third.  Provided,  that  if  any  one,  in  either  of  these 
ways,  cease  to  be  an  acting  minister,  he  shall  not  be  per- 
mitted to  sit,  as  a  minister,  in  any  of  our  church  courts ; 
and,  if  he  is  not  connected  as  a  member  with  some  par- 
ticular church,  he  shall  still  be  responsible  to  his  pres- 
bytery, and  he  may,  by  it,  be  restored  to  the  exercise 
of  the  functions  of  his  office,  and  to  all  the  rights  inci- 
dent thereto." 

This  half-way,  self-contradictory  and  indeterminate 
measure  naturalh^  failed  to  secure  the  assent  of  the  pres- 
byteries. Had  the  committee,  on  the  other  hand,  dis- 
missing the  purely  superstitious  idea  of  an  "  indelible 
character  of  office,"  boldly  proposed  a  measure,  pro- 
viding, under  suitable  safe-guards,  for  the  full  demission 
of  the  ministry,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  it  would 
have  received  the  sanction  of  tlie  church. 

Under  the  delay  of  providing  any  such  measure  of 
relief,  individual  presbyteries  are  naturallj^  led  to  act 
independently  of  a  general  permission,  and  introduce 
for  themselves  the  needed  reform.  In  a  recent  case, 
(Sept.,  1877,)  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
unexceptionable  Christian  character,  whose  mind  had 
become  unhappily  disturbed,  in  regard  to  certain  doc- 
trines, applied  to  his  presbytery  to  be  released  from  the 
clerical  office.  If  they  could  not  otherwise  do  this,  he 
requested  them  to  bring  charges  against  him,  and  depose 
him  from  the  ministry.  The  presbytery,  in  view  of  all 
the  circumstances,  after  expressing  their   high  sense  of 


.OF   THE    MINISTRY.  167 

the  applicant's  Christian  character,  and  their  regret  that 
he  should  feel  called  upon  to  take  any  such  step, 
resolved  that  his  request  should  be  granted,  and  his 
name  dropped  from  the  roll,  and  that  he  should  no 
longer  be  reputed  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  synod,  on  review  of  the  presbyterial  records, 
approved  them,  without  exception. 

Other  presbyteries  may  have  taken,  others  certainly  jvi  11 
take,  the  same  course,  which  will  be  eventually  accepted  by 
the  General  Assembly,  and  b}^  the  church,  at  its  instance. 
This  is  the  safe  and  natural  method  of  church  legislation. 
The  General  Assembly  should  not  originate,  but  merely 
accept  all  necessary  reforms.  No  permission  could  be 
gained-  for  a  limited  tenure  of  the  eldership,  until  a  large  / 
bod}^  of  churches  had  adopted  it  without  permission,  as 
a  necessary  measure  of  relief  The  early  councils  did 
not  dictate  the  faith  of  the  church.  They  only  formu- 
lated into  creeds  the  faith  which  the  church  had  already 
developed.  The  General  Assembly  is  a  parliament, 
which,  acting  nnder  constitutional  restrictions  and  prece- 
dents, neither  loves  nor  volunteers  change,  but  always 
concedes  it  when  the  demand,  becomes  sufficiently  press- 
ing;."" 


THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  discipline  includes  the  essen- 
tials of  Presbyterianism,  viz.,  the  government  of  the 
church  by  presbyters,  or  elders,  in  courts  of  review  and 
control.     The  bishops  are  only  elders  entrusted  with  the 

*  For  previous  action  of  the  Assem"'oly  on  this  subject,  see  Xew  Digest,  pp. 
6.5-70. 


168  THE   METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

superintendency  of  the  church,  and  are  resjoonsible  to 
the  General  Conference. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  organization  includes  the 
following  particulars  : 

1.  The  station,  or  local  church,  with  its  minister  in 
charge,  steward,  class  leaders,  exhorters,  local  preachers, 
and  committees  to  aid  in  discipline. 

2.  The  Quarterly  Conference,  including  the  ministers 
and  official  members  of  the  churches  within  a  circuit, 
receiving  appeals,  licensing  preachers,  elc.  This  is  pre- 
sided over  by  the  presiding  elder  of  the  district. 

S.  The  Annual  Conference,  composed  of  the  presiding 
elders,  and  all  the  pastors  and  lay  delegates  within  its 
bounds,  and  receiving  appeals  from  the  Quarterly  Con- 
ferences. It  elects  traveling  elders,  or  pastors,  and  dea- 
cons, and  transacts  its  business  by  means  of  a  series  of 
twenty-three  formal  interrogatories  as  to  the  number, 
standing,  etc.,  of  the  clergy.  There  are,  in  the  whole 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  between  seventy  and  eighty 
such  conferences.  Each  Annual  Conference  is  presided 
over  by  a  bishop. 

4.  The  Greneral  Conference,  made  up  of  the  bishops 
and  a  representation  from  the  Annual  Conferences  of 
one  from  forty-five  elders  and  traveling  deacons,  and 
two  laymen  from  each  conference.  It  meets  once  in  four 
years,  and  corresponds,  generally,  in  its  functions  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  also 
elects  the  bishops.  The  bishops  choose  the  presiding 
elders,  who  are  the  chief  pastors  of  particular  districts. 
Candidates  for  deacons'  and  elders'  orders  must  pass  a 
satisfactory  examination,  before  committees,  on  a  four 
years  course  of  study,  after  they  are  taken  on  trial  in 
the  Conference. 


THE    SCOTTISH    KIEK.  169 

T 

THE  SCOTTISH  KiEK. 

The  first  book  of  discipline  adopted  bj  the  first  Scot- 
tish General  Assembly,  an  Assembly  out  of  whose  forty 
members  only  six  were  ministers,  contained  all  the  fea- 
tures of  our  existing  Presbyterianism.  It  set  out  with 
the  declaration  against  the  claims  of  tradition,  councils, 
or  church  authority  of  any  sort ;  that  "  the  Word  of  God 
onl}"  is  sufficient  for  our  salvation.  It  shall  be  read  in 
private  houses,  therefore,  and  taught  in  every  kirk 
within  this  realm  ;  and  all  contrary  doctrine  to  the  same 
shall  be  impugned  and  suppressed."  From  this  sole 
and  infallible  guide,  they  deduced,  as  the  ordinary  offi- 
cers for  each  congregation,  bishops  or  ministers,  presby- 
ters or  elders,  and  deacons,  each  class  being  appointed 
to  its  specific  work,  precisely  as  now. 

They  provided  carefully  for  raising  up  and  educating 
a  ministry-,  beginning  with  elementary  schools,  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Because  schools  are  the  seed  of  the  ministry,  dil- 
igent care  shall  be  taken  over  them,  that  they  be 
ordered,  in  religion  and  conversation,  according  to  the. 
Word.  Every  town  should  have  a  schoolmaster ;  and 
in  landwart  the  minister,  or  reader,  should  teach  the 
children  that  come  to  them.  Men  should  be  compelled, 
by  the  kirk  and  the  magistrates,  to  send  their  bairns  to 
the  schools.  Poor  men's  children  should  be  helped  ;" 
EDUCATION  COMPULSORY,  that  is,  and  schools,  where  nec- 
essary.' FREE. 

In  the  suddenness  of  the  religious  revolution  that  had 
taken  place,  and  the  discarding  of  the  old  incompetent 
clergy,  there  w^ould,  of  course,  be  felt  an  urgent  want  of 
religious  teachers,    in   sympathy   with    the   movement. 


liO  THE    SCOTTISH     KiKK. 

No  exigency  of  circumstances,  however,  was  to  warrant 
the  intrusion  of*  unfit  ministers.  "Neither  for  rarity  of 
men  (said  the  statute),  for  necessity  of  teaching,  nor  for 
any  corruption  of  the  time,  should  unable  men  be  admit 
ted  to  the  ministry.  We  should  consider,  first,  whether 
God  hath  given  the  gifts  to  him  whom  we  would  choose, 
for  God  calleth  no  man  to  the  ministry  whom  he  arms 
not  with  necessar}^  c^^^^-  Better  it  is  to  have  the  room 
vacant,  than  to  have  unqualified  persons,  to  the  scandal 
of  the  ministry,  and  the  hurt  of  the  kirk.  In  the  rarity 
of  qualified  men,  we  should  call  unto  the  Lord,  that  He, 
of  His  goodness,  would  send  forth  true  laborers  to  His 
harvest.  The  kirk  and  faithful  magistrates  should  com- 
pel such  as  have  the  gifts,  to  take  the  office  of  teaching 
upon  them." 

Certain  accidental  and  temporar}^  provisions  were  also 
adopted  by  the  first  Scottish  Assembly,  which  are  well 
deserving  of  attention,  as  illustrating  the  practical  wis- 
dom that  presided  over  this  great  restoration  of  the  prim- 
itive church  polity. 

1.  In  the  paucity  of  competent  preachers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, a  class  of  youthful  "readers"  was  provided  for, 
thus  restoring,  at  the  reformation  of  the  church,  an  order 
found  necessary  during  the  period  of  its  first  formation. 
These  "  lectors "  were  to  read  through,  in  course,  as  a 
part  of  public  worship,  selected  books  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament.  After  a  certain  period  of  service,  they 
might  attempt  mingling  exposition  and  practical  remark 
with  their  reading ;  and  thus,  if  found  acceptable,  were, 
just  as  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  to  be  advanced  to 
the  ministry. 

2.  The  system  included  a  class  of  lay  doctors,  who 
were  set  apart  for  the  work  of  education,  from  teaching 


THE    SCOTTISH    KIRK.  171 

the  catechism  up  to  the  chair  of  a  university.  "The 
office  of  the  doctor  (says  the  book  of  discipline)  is  to 
open  up  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  Scriptures 
simply,  without  such  application  as  ministers  use,  to 
the  end  that  the  faithful  may  be  instructed,  and  sound 
doctrine  taught.  Under  the  name  and  office  of  "  doc- 
tor," we  comprehend,  also,  the  order  of  schools,  colleges, 
and  universities,  which  hath  been,  from  time  to  time, 
carefully  maintained  as  well  among  the  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians, as  among  the  profane  nations." 

The  understanding  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterian^  in 
other  words,  was  that  ministers  of  the  Gospel  were  to 
devote  themselves  expressly  to  the  cure  of  souls,  and 
that  the  work  of  Christian  education,  in  all  its  branches, 
was  to  be  attended  to  by  a  class  of  lay  elders,  set  apart 
for  the  purpose. 

8.  Another  feature  of  the  first  book  of  discipline  was 
what  is  called  "  the  exercise,"  and  what  was  subse- 
quently known  among  the  English  Puritans  as  "the 
prophesying."  It  was  a  meeting  composed  of  the  min- 
isters, elders,  doctors,  readers,  and  men  of  learning,  of 
each  town,  and  a  circuit  of  some  six  miles  around. 
They  were  required  to  assemble  weekly,  "for  the  expla- 
nation of  texts  of  Scripture,  discussion  of  points  of  doc- 
trine or  practice,  and  whatever  else  might  tend  to  the 
edifying  of  the  kirk."  At  these  exercises  entire  free- 
dom of  question  and  remark  was  indulged  to  all  per- 
sons, with  this  judicious  proviso,  "that  no  man  should 
move  a  question  the  which  himself  is  not  able  to  solve." 

4.  The  system  of  "  superintendents,"  incorporated 
in  the  first  book  of  discipline,  was  an  eminent  instance 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians.  Eesolutely 
opposed  as  they  were  to  Prelatical  rule,  they  adopted,  in 


172  THE    SCOTTISH    KIRK. 

view  of  their  peculiar  circumstances,  a  modified  system 
of  Episcopacy.  The  uew  polity  was  still  too  crude,  and 
the  reformed  ministers  too  ill  trained,  to  be  left  to  their 
own  unaided  working.  All  the  country  parishes  in  the 
kingdom  were,  accordingly,  distributed  into  live  dio- 
ceses, over  each  of  which  was  appointed  a  superinten- 
dent. He  was  only  a  presbyter  of  the  same  grade  as  his 
brethren,  and  he  was  to  have  his  own  church  to  serve,  like 
them  ;  but,  in  addition  to  this,  he  was  to  go  the  rounds 
of  his  diocese,  preaching,  at  least,  three  times  a  week, 
anS  inspecting  the  condition  of  the  several  flocks  dili- 
gently, as  follows : 

"  In  this  visitation  superintendents  shall  not  only 
preach,  but  also  examine  the  doctrine,  life,  diligence  and 
behavior  of  the  ministers,  readers,  elders,  and  deacons. 
They  shall  consider  the  order  of  the  kirk,  the  manners 
of  the  people,  how  the  poor  are  provided,  how  the  youth 
are  instructed,  how  the  discipline  and  policy  of  the  kirk 
are  kept,  how  heinous  and  horrible  crimes  are  corrected, 
and  shall  admonish  and  dress  out  all  things,  the  best 
they  may."'  For  this  purpose  they  were  to  remain  in 
each  congregation  from  two  weeks  to  twenty  days. 

It  was  further  carefully  provided,  that  superintendents 
should  be  subject  to  the  same  responsibility  and  disci- 
pline as  other  ministers.  To  guard  against  any  suspi- 
cion of  a  Prelacy,  the  old  title  of  "bishop"  was  refused 
them,  and  no  one  of  the  old  bishops  was  permitted  to 
fill  the  superintendency,  until,  by  subscribing  the  book 
of  discipline,  he  had  expressly  renounced  his  Episcopal 
pretensions.  In  short,  it  was  almost  identical  with  ihe 
presiding  eldership  of  our  Methodist  brethren,  an 
admirable  arrangement  for  a  pioneer  church,  or  a  church 
in  a  new  and  reforming  condition.     The  virus  of  Prelacy 


OHUKCH    PARLIAMENTARY    LAW.  173 

does  not  consist  at  all  in  tlie  mere  fact  of  the  oversight 
bj  one  minister  of  a  certain  number  of  other  ministers 
and  their  congregations.  It  consists  in  the  assumption 
that  this  oversight  is  exercised  bj  a  special  divine  war- 
rant ;  that  the  bishop  owes  no  responsibility  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  that  he  constitutes  the  indispensable  channel  on 
which  the}'  depend  for  all  communication  of  divine 
grace.  This  makes  a  true  hierarchy  —  a  system  which, 
however  modified  and  limited  by  circumstances, 
embraces  the  essential  elements  of  ecclesiastical  despot- 
ism. 

TJ 

CHURCH    PARLIAMENTARY    LAW. 

The  method  of  procedure  in  Presbyterian  Church 
courts  is  generall}^  conformed  to  that  of  ordinary  delib- 
erative assemblies,  and  presents  no  difficulty  that  is  not 
overcome  by  a  short  experience.  But  as  the  Greneral 
Assembly  has  directed  that  attention  should  be  given  to 
this  subject  in  the  course  of  instruction  in  our  Theologi- 
cal Seminaries,  the  following  brief  commentary  on  "  the 
general  rules  for  judicatories"  is  added.  These  rules 
are  given  in  the  appendix  to  the  form  of  government. 
A  foot  note  observes,  that  •' having  never  been  submitted 
to  the  presbyteries,  they  make  no  part  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  were  only  recom- 
mended by  the  Assembly  of.  1821,  for  the  use  of  our 
church  courts."  This  is  still  their  only  authority,  except 
as  they  belong  to  the  body  of  parliamentary  common 
law.  They  are  usually  adopted  afresh  by  each  General 
Assembly  for  its  own  government. 

So  far  as  appears  from  the  minutes,  neither  the  orig- 
inal  Synod  of  PhiL^delphia,   nor  the   united  Synod  of 


174  OHUKCn     PARLIAMENTARY     LAW, 

New  York  and  Philadelphia,  after  1758,  had  any  written 
rules  of  procedure.  On  the  29th  of  ^[a}^,  1788,  the 
synod  "  having  revised  and  corrected  the  confession  of 
faith  and  catechisms,  the  form  of  government  and  disci- 
pUne,  and  the  directory  for  worship,  adopted  and  ratified 
them  as  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United-States  of.  America."  But  nothing  is  said  of 
any  rules  for  judicatories.  They  had  previously  acted 
under  the  generally  received  though  variable  and  unset- 
tled rules  of  parliamentar}^  procedure. 
•  On  the  meeting  of  the  first  Greneral  Assembly,  the 
year  following  (1789),  the  first  act,  after  voting  an  address 
of  congratulation  to  General  Washington,  was  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  to  draw^  up  rules  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  General  Assembly  in  its  proceedings. 
The  committee  reported  a  series  of  fifteen  rules  which 
were  adopted,  and  which,  so  far  as  they  go,  are  nearly 
the  same  as  the  corresponding  rules  now  given  in  the 
appendix.  They  were  probably  drawn  from  the  rules  of 
procedure  of  the  Legislatures  of  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania, as  those  were  from  the  rules  of  the  British  Par- 
liament. This  code  was  improved,  by  the  Assembly  of 
1821,  into  the  present  body  of  rules,  forty-three  in  num- 
ber, which,  since  that  time,  with  the  exception  of  one  or 
two  rules  to  be  hereafter  mentioned,  have  remained 
unchanged. 

The  government  of  tha  Presbyterian  Church  is  vested 
in  the  Church  Sessions,  Presbyteries,  Synods  and  General 
Assembly,  each  of  which  has  the  right  of  review  and 
control  over  the  proceedings  of  the  next  lower  judica- 
tory. The  rules  apply  to  the  conduct  of  all  these,  except 
the  church  sessions,  to  which  they  have  little  application. 
Sec.  I.   Of  the  Quorum.  —  On   the   meeting  of  any 


CHURCH     PAKLIA.\[ENTAliY  LAW.  1<5 

legislature  or  deliberative  assembly,  the  first  question 
that  may  fall  to  be  considered  is  that  of  a  quorum.  The 
term  is  derived  from  the  former  usage  of  reciting  the 
names  of  the  members  of  a  court  with  the  prefix,  ^^  quo- 
rum sederunt  qui  infra^^  indicating  that  the  records  were, 
or  had  formerl}^  been,  kept  in  Latin. 

The  quorums  of  Presbyterian  Church  courts  are  the  fol- 
lowing :  Of  a  session,  the  pastor  and  two  elders,  if  there  be 
as  many  ;  but  one  is  sufficient.  (See  new  Digest,  p.  56.) 
Of  a  presbytery,  three  ministers.  Tberuleadds,  'Uuidas 
many  elders  as  may  he  preseid^''  but  does  not  stipulate  for 
the  presence  of  any.  The  quorum  of  a  synod  is  "seven 
ministers,  and  as  many  elders  as  may  be  present,  pro- 
vided that  out  of  the  seven,  not  more  than  three  belong: 
to  one  presbytery  ; ''  that  is,  in  order  to  constitute  a  synod, 
three  presbyteries  at  least  must  be  represented.  The 
quorum  of  the  General  Assembl}^  is  "  fourteen  commis- 
sioners, of  whom  one-half  at  least  must  be  ministers.'' 

Ko  court  can  transact  business  without  the  presence 
of  a  quorum ;  but,  by  rule  third,  any  two  membei's  are 
competent  to  adjourn  from  time  to  timiC,  until  a  quorum 
shall  assemble.  This  rule  was  occasioned  b}^  the  circum- 
stance that  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  being  adjourned, 
to  meet  at  York,  Pa.,  the  28th  of  Octobci',  1795,  there 
assembled  on  that  day  seventeen  ministers,  of  whom  thir- 
teen belonged  to  one  presbj^tery,  and  the  remaining  four 
to  two  otliers.  Under  the  impression  that  they  did  not 
constitute  a  quorum,  the  members  thought  they  were 
incompetent  either  to  adjourn  from  day  today  or,  finally  ; 
and  at  length  simply  dispersed  and  went  home."  The 
quorums  of  Presbyterian  Church  courts  were  fixed  in 

*  See  note  at  end. 


17(5  CUURCII     PAHLIAMEXTARV     LAW. 

the  early  history  of  the  church,  and  are  now  dispropor- 
tionately small. 

Sec.  ir.  Members  of  Presbyterian  Chukch  Courts. 
—  The  Form  of  Government,  chap.  XI,  1,  says:  "  Asa 
presbytery  is  a  convention  of  the  bishops  and  elders 
within  a  certain  district,  so  a  svnod  is  a  convention  of 
the  BISHOPS  and  elders  within  a  larger  district ;  "  and 
chap.  XII,  2,  says:  '"The  General  Assembly -shall  con- 
sist of  an  equal  delegation  of  bishops  and  elders." 
]N"ow,  a  "bishop"  is  one  who  has  a  pastoral  care.  The 
question  arises  whether  ministers  without  charge,  have  a 
right  to  seats.  In  fixing  the  quorums  of  a  presbytery 
and  a  synod,  it  is  said :  "  Any  seven  ministers^  &c. ;  " 
and  a  presbytery  is  said  to  consist  of  "all  the  ministers 
within  a  certain  district."  So  far  as  these  rules  go,  it 
might  be  left  in  doubt  whether  "bishops"  or  "minis- 
ters" were  the  governing  title.  In  Scotland,  it  is  the 
former.  Xone  but  pastors  have  the  right  to  sit  in  their 
church  courts,  except  that  professoi's  in  the  universities 
sit  in  rotation,  as  pastors  in  common  of  the  seminary 
students.  The  General  Assembly  of  1816  decided  that 
"  all  ministers  "  are  qualified  for  membership.  (See  Min- 
utes, p.  615.)  But  this  is  a  qi!iestion  which  cannot  be 
regarded  as  yet  finally  settled  in  the  policy  of  the  church. 

As  respects  the  other  class  of  members  in  Presbyte- 
rian Church  courts,  the  description  of  them  is  that  they 
are  "  ruling  elders."  Only  ordained  ministers  and  elders 
are  spiritual  officers ;  and  such  only  can  exercise  rule  in 
the  church.  By  the  "accommodation  act"  of  1808, 
between  the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists,  lay 
delegates  from  standing  committees  of  Congregational 
Churches  in  union  with   presb^'teries,  were  entitled  to 


CHURCH  parlia:\[entary  law.  177 

seats  as  r tiling  elders.  Tliis  anomaly  was  extinguished 
by  the  repeal  of  the  accommodation  plan  in  1873. 

Sec.  III.  ORGAXiZATio>r  of  the  Judicatory.  — 
Rule  l —  "  The  moderator  shall  take  the  chair  pre- 
cisely at  the  hour  to  which  the  judicatory  stands 
adjourned  ;  shall  immediately  call  the  members  to  order, 
ani,  on  the  appearance  of  a  quorum,  sirall  open  the  ses- 
sion with  prayer." 

Rule  il — '-If  a  quorum  be  assembled. at  the  hour 
appointed,  and  the  moderator  be  absent,  the  last  mode- 
rator present  shall  be  requested  to  take  his  place,  with- 
out delay."  In  the  General  Assembly,  the  last  mode- 
.rator  present,  even  though  not  a  commissioner,  takes 
the  chair.  (Digest,  p.  172.)  After  calling  the  roll,  and 
reading^  the  minutes  of  the  last  meetino^.  a  new  modera- 
tor  is  elected.  Nominations  are  made  viva  voce.  Where 
there  is  more  than  one  candidate,  the  voting  is  by  bal- 
lot, except  in  the  Greneral,  Assembly,  where  it  is  by  call- 
ins^  the  roll.     Where  there  are  more   than    two   candi- 

CD 

dates,  the  election  is  by  plurality.  The  moderator  is, 
by  usage,  alwaj^s  a  minister,  but  there  is  nothing  in  the 
constitution  to  forbid  a  ruling  elder's  occupying  the 
office;  and,  in  a  few  recent  instances  this  has  actually 
been  done.     (See  Form  of  Grov.  :  x,  2  ;  xix,  3.) 

Each  judicatory  has  a  stated  clerk,  holding  office  dur- 
iiig  the  will  of  the  body,  and  a  temporary  clerk,  chosen 
at  each  session.  The  stated  clerk  receives  a  salary,  in 
the  Greneral  Assembly,  of  $100.  In  synods  and  presby- 
teries, of  $10  and  upwards.  The  stated  clerk  is  the  cus- 
todian of  the  minutes,  and  of  all  records  and  papers  of 
the  j  udicatory. 

Besides  these  officers,  the  General  Assembly  has  a 
"  permanent  clerlv,"  whose  business  it  is  to  draught  the 


176  CHL'KCli     FAKLiAMENTAKV     LAW. 

minutes  of  the  body  while  in  session,  and  see  to  trans- 
scribing,  printing,  etc.  Pay  $8  a  day,  while  engaged  in 
the  business  of  the  Assembly.  The  clerks  of  the  Assem- 
bly need  not  be  commissioners  to  that  body.  (Digest, 
p.  176.) 

Sec.  IV,  Duties  of  the  Modeeator. —  ''It  is  the 
duty  of  the  moderator  to  keep  order,  in  accordance  wdtli 
the  rules,  to  hold  the  attention  of  the  judicatory  closely 
to  the  matter  in  hand,  to  decide  pipmptly  all  questions 
of  order,  and  to  promote  the  most  rapid  and  safe  prose- 
cution of  the  business.  He  may  speak  to  points  of 
order,  in  preference  to  other  members  in  his  place,  and 
may  join  in  debate,  by  calling  some  other  member  to 
the  chair.  He  appoints  all  committees,  except  the  judi- 
catory order  otherwise." 

"  When  the  vote  is  by  ballot,  the  moderator  may  vote, 
but  in  no  other  case,  except  when  there  is  a  tie.  If  he 
then  vote  aye,  the  question  is  carried.  If  he  refuse  to 
vote,  it  is  lost."  In  the  Assembly  of  1798,  the  modera- 
tor, Dr.  John  Blair  Smith,  claimed  the  right  to  vote,  as 
commissioner  from  the  Presbytery  of  Albany,  and,  also, 
to  give  the  casting  vote  as  moderator.  This  the  Assem- 
bly°denied  him.     (Digest,  p.  172.) 

In  order  to  command  the  respect  and  obedience  of  the 
judicatory,  it  is  necessary  that  the  moderator  should  be 
prompt  and  resolute  in  his  decisions.  His  sentence  is, 
indeed,  always  subject  to  an  appeal;  but,  in  all  ordinary 
cases,  even  when  a  vote  may  be  somewhat  doubtful,  a 
prompt  decision  will  carry  the  assent  of  the  judicatory 
with  it.  In  the  dissenting  church  judicatories,  or  con- 
ventions, of  England,  the  moderator  usually  gathers  the 
sense  of  the  house  during  the  course  of  the  debate,  and 
gives  the  decision  without  putting  the  question   to  vote. 


CHURCH    PARLTA^klEXTARY    LAW.  179 

A  feeble  and  hesitating  moderator  throws  the  body  into 
confusion,  and  greatlj^  retards  the  progress  of  business. 

Sec.  v.  Introduction  of  Business.— Business 
niaj  be  brought  before  a  judicatory  in  the  following 
wa3^s : 

1.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  stated  clerk. to  make  out,  in 
advance,  a  docket  containing  the  business  of  routine, 
and  any  other  matter  that  should  regularly  come  before 
the  body.  This  docket  is  to  be  gone  through  with,  till 
it  is  exhausted.  2.  Appeals,  references,  or  complaints, 
may  come  up  from  lower  courts.  3.  Reports  of  commit- 
tees. 4.  Review  of  records  of  lower  courts,  o.  Orio-i- 
nal  motions.  All  matters  of  importance  or  difficulty, 
are  best  referred  to  some  appropriate  committee,  by 
which  they  may  be  brought  in  order^  before  the  judica- 
tory, as,  matters  of  discipline,  to  the  judicial  committee  ; 
questions  relating  to  any  proposed  action,  to  the  com- 
mittee of  bills  and  overtures  :  interpretation  of  the  con- 
stitution, to  the  committee  on  the  politj^  of  the  church, 
etc. 

Any  member  may  bring  an  item  of  business  before 
the  judicatory  on  his  own  responsibility.  All  motions 
must  be  seconded,  before  they  can  be  entertained,  and 
the  mover  may  be  required  to  reduce  anj^  motion  to 
writing.  But  this  applies  only  to  principal  motions,  and 
not  to  such  subsidiar}^  motions  as  are  merely  designed  to 
aid  in  disposing  of  the  former,  as,  to  lay  on  the  table,  to 
commit,  etc.,  which  are  always  in  one  form.  All  judi- 
cial business  must  be  introduced  before  the  close  of  the 
second  day  of  the  sessions ;  and  any  appeal  not  intro- 
duced at  the  first  succeeding  meeting  of  the  judicatory 
appealed  to,  and  before  the  close  of  the  second  dav,  is 


180  CHURCH     PARLIAMEKTARY    LAW. 

regarded   as   abandoned,    and   the   original   decision  is 
affirmed.     (Discipline  :  in,  11.) 

Sec.  vi.  Order  of  Business.  —  Business  may  be 
taken  up  either  in  tLe  order  of  the  docket,  or  by  being 
made  the  order  of  the  day  for  a  set  time,  or  on  casual 
motions,  reports,  etc.  All  business  is  brought  before  a 
judicatory,  with  a  view  to  action  upon  it,  and  no  busi- 
ness can  be  acted  on,  except  under  the  form  of  a  motion. 
All  appeals,  references,  overtures,  reports  of  committees, 
etc.,  terminate  in  a  motion  looking  to  some  action  dis- 
posing of  the  same  ;  and  no  person  is  entitled  to  address 
a  judicatory,  except  under,  or  in  contemplation  of,  a 
motion.  In  familiar  proceedings  this  rule  is  often  dis- 
regarded, but  always  may  be,  and  usually  should  be, 
strictly  enforced. 

Sec.  VII.  All  Eeports  of  Committees  should  be 
IN  Writing.  — If  in  full,  the  regular  motion  is  to  accept 
the  report.  The  effect  of  this,  if  passed,  is  to  discharge 
the  committee,  and  bring  the  report  into  the  hands  of 
the  judicatory.  If  rejected,  it  may  be  in  favor  of  a 
motion  to  re-commit  the  business  to  the  same  commit- 
tee, with  or  without  instructions  ;  or  the  committee  may 
report  in  part,  and  ask  to  be  continued.  On  the  accept- 
ance of  the  report,  if  it  be  one  calling  for  any  action,  the 
next  motion  is  for  its  adoption.  The  motion  to  adopt 
is  always  debatable,  and  it  is  on  this,  and  not  on  the 
motion  to  accept,  that  the  discussion  of  the  matter 
involved  takes  place. 

Sec.  viii.  Progress  of  a  Motion  beforl  a  Judic- 
atory.—  When  any  motion  is  before  a  judicatory,  its 
progress  may  be  promoted,  retarded,  or  finally  arrested, 
by  the  following  methods,  viz. :  1.  The  motion  being 
])ut  to  the  vote,  may  be  at  (nee  rejected,  without  debate. 


CHUKCH    PAELIAMENTARY    LAW.  181 

2.  Before  any  debate  has  taken  place,  the  mover  may 
withdraw  it,  with  the  consent  of  the  seconder  ;  or,  after- 
wards, by  the  consent  of  the  judicatory.  8.  It  may  be 
moved  to  amend  the  motion ;  and,  4.  To  amend  that 
amendment,  but  no  farther.  5.  It  may  be  moved  to 
postpone  to  a  set  time  ;  and,  6.  To  postpone  indefinitely. 
7.  To  lay  on  the  table,  (a)  for  the  present,  (h)  uncondi- 
tionally. 8.  To  commit.  9.  The  previous  question. 
10.  To  adjourn. 

.  To  these  might  be  added  a  motion  to  proceed  to  the 
order  of  the  day,  but  this  should  be  done  simply  by  the 
decision  of  the  moderator,  on  the  arrival  of  the  hour 
appointed,  without  any  motion. 

Sec.  IX.  Privileged  Questions:  —  "  When  a  ques- 
tion is  under  debate,  no  motion  shall  be  received,  unless 
to  amend,  to  commit,  to  postpone,  to  lay  upon  the  table, 
for  the  previous  question,  or  to  adjourn.  (Digest,  Eule 
14.)  These  are  called  "privileged  questions,"  because 
they  have  the  precedence  over  any  others. 

1.  The  m,otwn  to  adjourn  is  always  in  order.  Each 
member  of  the  court  may  speak  upon  it  once.  In  the 
British  parliament,  also,  the  motion  is  debatable,  but 
not  in  the  Houj^e  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States. 

2.  To  lay  on  the  table.  The  object  of  this  motion  is 
either  to  suspend  the  consideration  of  a  subject,  for  the 
time,  in  order  to  attend  to  something  else,  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  which  it  may  again  be  taken  from  the  table,  or, 
to  get  rid  of  it  altogether.  But  this  latter  use  of  it  is 
illegitimate,  as  the  end  desired  is  regularly  attainable  by 
a  different  motion,  as,  for  example,  by  a  direct  vote  to 
reject,  or  to  postpone  indefinitely.  The  motion  to  lay 
on  the  table  was  discarded  by  the  General    Assembly 


182  CHURCH    PARLIAMENTARY    LAW. 

(N.  S.)  of  1851 ;  but  was  restored  by  the  United  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  in  1871,  with  the  following  additional 
rale:  (No.  21.)  "A  distinction  shall  be  observed 
between  a  motion  to  lay  on  the  table  for  the  present,  and 
a  motion  to  lay  on  the  table  unconditionally,  viz. :  A 
motion  to  lay  on  the  table  for  the  present,  shall  be  taken 
without  debate,  and,  if  carried,  the  effect  shall  be  to  place 
the  subject  on  the  docket,  and  it  may  be  taken  up  and 
considered  at  any  subsequent  time.  A  motion  to  lay  on 
the  table  unconditionally,  shal]  also  be  taken  without 
debate,  and,  if  carried  in  the  af&rmative,  it  shall  not  be  in 
order  to  take  up  the  subject  during  the  same  meeting 
of  the  judicatory,  without  a  vote  of  reconsideration." 

3.  To  amend.  An  amendment  may  be  moved  on  any 
motion,  and  shall  be  decided  before  the  original  motion. 
An  amendment  may  be  amended,  but  not  the  second 
amendment. 

•1.  To  commit.  It  is  often  of  great  advantage  to  the 
prosecution  of  business,  to  refer  a  motion  to  a  committee, 
who  shall  bring  in  some  report,  or  minute,  expressive  of 
the  sense  of  the  judicatory.  It  may  be  accompanied 
with  instructions,  or  otherwise. 

5.  To  postpone^  either  indefinitely,  or  to  a  set  day. 
An  indefinite  postponement  excludes  the  question  for 
the  rest  of  the  sessions.  (Rule  20.)  "  A  subject  which 
has  been  indefinitely  postponed  shall  not  be  again  called 
up,  during  the  same  sessions,  unless  by  consent  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  members  who  were  present  at  the  deci- 
sion." 

6.  The  previous  question.  The  object  of  the  previous 
question  in  the  British  parliament,  from  which  we  have 
taken  it,  is  to  suppress,  a  bill  which,  for  any  reason,  is 
objectionable.     It  is  said  to  have  been  first  introduced 


CHURCH   parlta:mextary  law.  I'^o 

hy  Sir  Heiiiw  Yane,  the  eider,  in  1604.  It  is  called 
"previous,"  because  the  motion  before  the  house  being 
for  the  adoption  of  a  certain  bill,  a  member  moves  a 
resolution  ^?-ey/o/^:9  to  thai,  A'iz.,  that  the  main  question  be 
put  —  i.  e.,  that  it  shall  he  put  at  some  time,  his  object 
being  to  obtain  a  negative  decision,  and  thus  turn  the 
question  at  once  and  forever  out  of  the  house  ;  for,  obvi- 
ously, if  the  house  decide  that  the  question  shall  not  be 
put  at  all,  there  could  be  no  debate  upon  it.  If,  con- 
trary to  the  mover's  intention,  his  motion  be  carried, 
then  the  debate  may  proceed  ;  that  is,  the  house  decides 
that  it  luill  consider  and  vote  upon  the  resolution. 

In  this  country,  on  the  other  hand,  the  object  of  the 
previous  question  is  not  to  suppress  any  bill  or  motion 
but  to  suppress  debate  upon  it,  and  bring  the  house 
immediatel}^  to  a  vote  on  the  C[uestion  before  it;  but 
what  that  question  is,  is  differently  interpreted  in  differ- 
ent deliberative  assemblies.  In  the  legislature,  and  in 
political  conventions  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  pre- 
vious question,  if  sustained,  arrests  debate,  sweeps  aw^ay 
all  pending  amendments,  etc.,  and  brings  the  house  to 
an  immediate  vote  on  the  original  motion.  In  the  Uni- 
ted States  Senate  the  previous  question  is  unknown  • 
but  in  the  House  of  Representatives  its  effect  is  to  arrest 
debate,  and  bring  the  house  to  a  direct  vote  upon  pend- 
ing amendments,  and  then  upon  the  main  question. 
The  f-rrm  of  the  motion  is,  '"  that  the  main  question  be 
now  put,  and  the  object  of  the  mover  is  to  obtain  an 
affirmative  decision. 

In.  Presbyterian  Church  judicatories,  down  to  1835, 
the  previous  question  was  in  tins  form  :  "  Shall  the  main 
question  he  now  put  T''  If  decided  in  the  affirmative  the 
debate  on  the  main   question  might  proceed.     If  in  the 


184  CHURCH    PARLIAMENTARY    LAW. 

negative,  the  effect  was  to  arrest  debate,  and  produce  an 
indefinite  postponement.  This  rule  was  designed  to  be 
the  same  in  its  effect  as  that  in  the  British  parliament, 
but  the  inconsiderate  introduction  of  the  word  "nor^" 
gave  it  a  character  of  contradiction  and  absurdit}^  viz.  : 
If  the  motion  that  the  main  question  be  now  put  pre- 
vailed, then  the  main  question  was  not  to  be  put,  but  the 
discussion  was  to  sjo  on. 

By  the  Greneral  Assembly  of  1835,  the  rule  was 
altered,  as  follows  :  "  The  previous  question  shall  be  in 
this  form,  'Shall  the  main  question  be  now  put?'  and 
when  demanded  by  a  majority  of  the  members  present, 
shall  be  put,  without  debate.  If  decided  in  the  affirma- 
tive, the  main  question,  that  is,  the  original  motion, 
shall  be  immediately  put,  without  debate.  If  in  the 
negative,  the  debate  may  proceed." 

This  change  removed  the  inconsistency  in  the  rule,  as 
it  before  stood,  and  made  the  operation  of  the  previous 
question  the  same  as  in  the  State  of  New  York  ;  that  is, 
it  suppressed  all  subsidiary  motions,  and  brought  the 
house  to  vote  directly  on  the  original  question. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1851,  altered  the  rule  into 
its  present  shape,  in  which  it  was  approved  and  adopted 
by  the  united  Assembly  of  1871,  as  follows:  "The 
previous  question  shall  be  put  in  this  form,  '  Shall  the 
main  question  he  now  putT  It  shall  only  be  admitted 
when  demanded  by  a  majority  of  the  members  present, 
and  its  effect  shall  be  to  put  a  stop  to  all  debate,  and 
bring  the  body  to  a  direct  vote,  first,  upon  the  motion 
to  commit  the  subject  under  consideration,  if  such  a 
motion  shall  have  been  made.  Second,  if  the  motion  to 
commit  does  not  prevail,  upon  pending  amendments  ; 
and,  lastly,  upon  the  main  question." 


CHURCH    PAELIAMENTAEY    LAW.  185 

The  previous  question  is  a  measure  of  self  protection, 
by  a  judicatory,  against  the  pertinacity  of  individual  mem- 
bers, when,  in  the  opinion  of  a  majority,  a  subject  has 
been  sufficiently  discussed.  Eegarded  as  a  "gag  law," 
it  is  seldom  looked  iipon  with  much  favor  among  us. 
The  end  designed  may,  usually,  be  attained  by  other 
methods,  as,  by  sufficiently  energetic  and  persistent  cries 
of  "  question !" 

Sec.  X.  In  Filling  Blanks,  the  vote  is  to  be  taken, 
first,  on  the  longest  time,  and  the  largest  number.  (Eule 
38.)  In  the  British  parliament,  the  rule  is  the  longest  time 
and  the  smallest  number.  In  the  Congress  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  a  bill  might  be  introduced,  for  example,  to 
empower  the  president  to  raise  20,000  volunteers,  for 
the  protection  of  the  frontier,  for  two  years.  The  oppo- 
sition might  attempt  to  defeat  this  measure  absolutely, 
by  some  of  the  motions  already  mentioned.  Failing  in 
this,  they  might  attempt  to  limit  the  grant  as  much  as 
possible,  moving,  e.  g.,  to  reduce  the  number  of  men  to 
15,000,  10,000,  or  5,000 ;  and  the  time  to  18,  12,  or  6 
months.  The  vote  must  be  taken  in  succession  on  the 
largest  number  and  the  longest  time. 

Sec.  XL  EuLES  Eegulating  Debate.—  -'  On  c|ues- 
tions  of  order,  adjournment,  postponement,  or  commit- 
ment, no  mem.ber  shall  speak  more  than  once."  (Eule  18.) 
On  all  other  Cjuestions  each  member  may  speak  twice,  but 
not  oftener,  without  the  consent  of  the  judicatorj^  In 
ordinary  conversational  discussion  this  rule  is  disre- 
garded :  but  in  all  formal  or  earnest  debate  should  be 
strictly  enforced.  Any  church  judicatory,  however,  may 
go  into  "interlocutory  session,"  corresponding  to  the  par- 
liamentary  "  committee   of  the    whole,"    in  which  the 


186  CHURCH    PARLIAMENTARY    LAW. 

members  may  freely  converse  together,  without  the  for- 
malities which  attend  ordinary  debate.     (Rule  38.) 

If  more  than  one  member  i^ise  to  speak  at  the  same 
time,  the  member  who  is  most  distant  from  the  modera- 
tor's chair  shall  speak  first. 

If  a  motion  under  debate  contains  several  parts,  any 
two  members  may  have  it  divided,  and  the  question 
taken  separately,  on  each  part. 

"It  is  indispensable  that  members  of  ecclesiastical 
judicatories  maintain  great  gravity  and  dignity,  while 
judicially  convened,  (i.  e.,  when  not  in  interlocutory 
session)  that  they  attend  closely,  in  their  speeches,  to 
the  subject  under  consideration,  and  avoid  prolix  and 
desultory  harangues ;  and  when  they  deviate  from  the 
subject,  it  is  the  privilege  of  any  member,  and  the  duty 
of  the  moderator  to  call  them  to  order."     (Rule  24.) 

Sec.  xil  Reading  the  Minutes.  —  The  minutes  of 
the  last  meeting  of  the  judicatory  shall  be  presented  at 
the  commencement  of  its  sessions,  and,  if  necessary,  read 
and  corrected.     (Rule  12.) 

Sec.  xiil  Reconsideration.  —  "A  question  shall 
not  be  again  called  up  and  reconsidered  at  the  same  ses- 
sions of  the  judicatory  at  which  it  has  been  decided, 
unless  by  the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  who 
were  present  at  the  decision,  and  unless  the  motion  to 
reconsider  be  made  and  seconded  by  persons  who  voted 
with  the  majority."  (Rule  22.)  The  words '' meeting '' 
and  "  sessions  "  both  mean  the  whole  time  during  which  the 
judicatory  sits.  "  Session  "  means  the  meeting  of  a  sin- 
gle day,  which  is  interrupted  only  by  a  recess.  At  the 
close  of  each  day's  ''session,''  the  judicatory  adjourns  till 
next  da}^  At  the  close  of  its  "  sessions,''  it  adjourns 
finally,  tiM  the  next  regular  or  stated  meeting.     In  the 


CHUECH    PARLIAMEXTARY    LAW.  187 

records  of  the  old  Synod  of  ]^ew  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, the  meeting  was  commonlj^  called  a  ^'' seder unV^ 
The  cabalistic  letters  U.  P.  P.  S.  Q.-S.  are  often  found 
after  the  place  and  date  of  meeting,  i.  e.,  ubi  post i^reces 
sederunt  qui  supra. 

Sec.  xiy.  Ox  Taking  the  Yote. —  "Every  motion 
should  be  distinctly  repeated  by  the  moderator,  before 
being  put.  If  there  is  any  room  for  doubt,  as  to  the 
effect  of  the  vote,  he  should  explain  what  it  will  be." 
The  motion  should  be  put  in  brief  and  simple  terms, 
thus :  All  those  in  flivor  of  the  motion  will  say  aye  ; 
contrary  minded  will  say  7io. 

"  When  the  moderator  has  commenced  taking  the 
vote,  no  further  debate,  or  remark,  shall  be  admitted, 
unless  there  has  evidently  been  a  mistake,  in  which 
case  it  shall  be  rectified,  and  the  moderator  shall  re-com- 
mence taking  the  vote.     (Rule  34.) 

"  Members  ought  not,  without  weighty  reasons,  to 
decline  voting,  as  this  practice  might  leave  the  decision 
of  very  interesting  questions  to  a  small  proportion  of  the 
judicatory.  Silent  members,  unless  excused  from 
voting,  must  be  regarded  as  acquiescing  with  the  major- 
ity."    (Rule  30.) 

Sec.  XV.  The  Closing  Acts  of  a  Church  Judica- 
tory, above  a  church  session,  are  reading  and  cor- 
recting the  minutes  of  the  last  session,  prayer,  and  the 
apostolic  benediction,  by  the  moderator,  who  then 
declares  the  judicatory  adjourned,  to  meet  on  a  set  day, 
or,  as  the  case  may  be,  at  the  call  of  the  moderator. 

Note  to  Sec.  il  Ox  the  Quorum  of  a  Syxod.  — 
"  The  quorum  of  a  synod  is  seven  ministers,  provided 
that  not  more  than  three  belong  to  one  presbytery." 

The  intent  of  this  rule  was  to  secure  the  presence  of 


188  CHURCH    PARLIAMENTARY    LAW. 

ministers  from,  at  lea?t,  three  presbyteries,  in  order  to 
constitute  a  synod.  If  it  had  simply  fixed  the  quorum 
at  "  seven  ministers,"  without  adding  tlfe  proviso,  the 
entire  seven  might,  in  some  cases,  belong  to  one  presby- 
tery. By  the  proviso,  not  more  than  three  of  the  seven 
must  belong  to  one  presbytery ;  but  the  rule  directs 
nothing  as  to  the  distribution  of  the  other  four.  They 
may  belong  to  four  different  presbyteries,  one  to  each, 
or,  two  to  one,  and  one  to  each  of  two  others,  or  three 
to  one,  and  one  to  a  third.  The  whole  seven  might 
even  belong  to  seven  different  presbyteries.  In  the  case 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  referred  to,  there  were 
four  presbyteries  represented,  of  which  two  had  one 
each,  one  had  two,  and  the  other  (Chestei*)  had  thirteen 
ministers. 

Now,  inasmuch  as  the  rule  directs  that,  in  the  case  of  a 
hare  quorura^  not  more  than  three  of  the  seven  shall 
belong  to  one  presbytery,  it  was  inferred  that,  in  this 
instance,  where  ten  more  than  a  quorum  were  present,  the 
synod  was  in  no  condition  to  act,  since  thirteen  out  of 
the  seventeen  members  were  from  one  presbytery.  If 
the  Presbytery  of  Chester  had  had  only  three  ministers 
present,  no  one  will  deny  that  there  would  have  been  a 
legitimate  quorum.  How  should  the  excess  of  ten  min- 
isters from  that  presbytery  vitiate  this  fact?  The  error 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  seems  to  have  arisen  from 
their  supposing  that  the  object  of  the  rule  was  to  pre- 
vent any  one  presbytery  having  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  present ;  whereas,  its  whole  intent  was  to  secure 
the  attendance  of  some  minister,  or  ministers,  from,  at 
least,  three  presbyteries.  Suppose,  at  the  hour  of  meet- 
ing, the  Synod  of  Chester  had  had  only  three  ministers  ; 
of  course,   there  would  have  been  a  working  quorum. 


CHURCH    PARLIAMENTARY    LAW.  189 

Would  the  arrival  of  ten  other  members  from  that  pres- 
bytery, an  hour  afterwards,  have  destroyed  the  quorum  ? 
On  the  other  hand,  the  withdrawal  of  the  single  repre- 
sentative of  one  of  the  other  two  presbyteries  "would 
have  had  that  effect,  and  have  obliged  the  synod  to  sus- 
pend any  further  action,  till  the  quorum  was  restored. 

The  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  therefore,  did  have  an 
actual  quorum  at  York,  on  the  clay  mentioned,  and  vras 
competent,  not  merely  to  adjourn,  but  to  attend  to  all 
synodical  business. 


Date  Due                         1 

...4 

^ 

